The Chosen One
by A Wrestling God
Summary: Slight AU. The Raw roster gets a new up and coming star named Stephanie McMahon. She has been dominating in NXT and she is being pushed hard. So fast has been her rise through the ranks to the big stage that she is even surprised by it herself. It soon becomes apparent that the man responsible is the COO of WWE Paul Levesque who has taken a keen interest in her.
1. Chapter 1

_I've decided to steal Dean Ambrose's rope rebound clothesline for Stephanie's finishing move in this story for the simple reason that I like it so much. As for ring attire just picture what she wore at Summerslam this year. Also as this is slightly AU I can go ahead and make the show TV14 not this PG crap that we have to endure in reality :)_

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><p>Twenty two year old Stephanie McMahon was nervous as she finished changing into her leather ring gear, very nervous in fact. Tonight was her first night on Raw and not only that she was scheduled to wrestle the current Divas champion Paige. In fact she was scheduled to beat Paige. It was not for the title but even so this was crazy. She had briefly been the NXT Women's Champion but she had been made to drop it in order to start on the Raw roster full time. She was being pushed hard and she had to honestly admit that she was not sure why. There was no doubt that she was talented and she was in great shape physically. She worked out two hours per day minimum and she was more muscular than most the other Divas. She was also the tallest of them. Even taking this into account she was being pushed a lot faster than anyone else that had made it onto the main roster through NXT had been.<p>

"Don't look nervous Steph, you'll be fine," Paige said pleasantly as she walked over to Stephanie.

Stephanie smiled but she still looked nervous, "Thanks Paige."

Paige laughed, "You still look nervous. I'll see you out there."

Stephanie made sure that her boots were fastened securely and took a deep breath, it was time to put her nerves aside and go do this. She walked out of the locker room and along the hallway towards the gorilla position. As she approached she saw her boss, WWE's top star and current COO 'Triple H' Paul Levesque. She knew that he ran things around here but she had never met or even spoken to him before. Stephanie found it strange that he was so high up in the company as she guessed that Paul was not much older than herself. She would have guessed at maybe twenty five or twenty six. Maybe it was not a case of what he knew but who he knew?

Next to him was his wife, recently retired Diva Trish Stratus who was now one of the senior members of the creative department. Stephanie had always looked up to Trish as some kind of role model but again had never actually had the chance to meet her. Hopefully that would change soon, meeting Trish in person would be amazing. They were both talking to some crew member or production team member, Stephanie had no idea who the guy was. As she walked past them, towards the curtain she heard the boss say, "Hey, Stephanie."

Stephanie turned around and faced Paul as he approached her but she was unsure how to correctly address him. Figuring it would be best to be too cautious rather not cautious enough she went with, "Yes sir?"

Paul laughed, "You can call me Paul," he held out his hand for Stephanie to shake which of course she did. "It's an honor to meet you Paul."

Paul smiled, "I've been watching you in NXT and I'm very impressed."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." That was a massive understatement but it was what had flowed out of her mouth before she could consider it. Paul continued, "Keep impressing me in the next couple of weeks and I might have a big opportunity for you."

"Really? What opportunity?" Stephanie's eagerness was plainly obvious.

"Impress me tonight and next week and we'll talk again."

"I'll do that sir... Paul," Stephanie told him determinedly. Paul turned and walked back over to Trish who was still involved in her conversation. He spoke as much to himself as to Trish, "Polite girl."

Trish replied without paying attention, "Hmmmm."

Stephanie waited behind the curtain as Paige made her entrance and her mind raced. Holy shit! The boss was taking a personal interest in her. It was now no surprise that she was being pushed this hard. It had been a shame not to get the chance to chat to Trish but she was sure that there would be another time for that. She imagined that right now Michael Cole would talking about her.

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><p>As Paige completed her entrance Michael Cole was indeed talking about Stephanie, "We've got something different lined up tonight King, we've got Stephanie McMahon about to wrestle Paige and I know that you've been very impressed with her performances on NXT as of late."<p>

"That's right Michael. My advice to Paige is don't take Stephanie McMahon lightly, she's been running through NXT like no one has before."

JBL countered, "But Paige is the Divas Champion, she should have no real problem winning this one."

Stephanie's generic low budget entrance music played and she walked confidently to the ring even though inside she felt like her stomach was in knots. She drew a fairly quiet but noticable cheer from the crowd, clearly some of them had seen her tearing it up on NXT and sensed what may be in store for Paige. Stephanie rolled into the ring and as she did so Paige began talking to her. Her words were inaudible to the auidence but she held out her hand for Stephanie to shake. Stephanie naively fell for the sporting gesture and Paige started the match by catching Stephanie unaware with a kick to the stomach.

Playing her heel character well Paige drew heat from the crowd as she dominated the opening couple of minutes of the match due to the unfair advantage she had gained at the start. She arrogantly slapped and taunted Stephanie as she tried to get up from the canvas and JBL said, "Paige has this under control guys. Maybe it was unfair to throw Stephanie in there with the champion straight away?"

"Don't count Stephanie out yet John," Cole warned, "She hasn't had a chance to mount any offence yet. She's devastatingly powerful when she gets on a roll from what I've seen." As if on cue Paige whipped Stephanie off the ropes and tried to take her down with a shoulder block but instead she bounced clean off Stephanie's own shoulder block and went down. The crowd cheered but Paige was up quickly and as Stephanie was still trying to recover Paige grabbed her in a headlock. Stephanie leant into Paige and was able to power her off and sent her flying nearly half way across the ring. The crowd cheered at this impressive feat of strength but again Paige was up quickly and she ran at Stephanie but she ran right into a roundhouse kick that caught her right on the chin and left her crumpled on the floor near the corner. King squealed before yelling, "That could be it Cole! Paige could be out!"

Stephanie dragged Paige away from the ropes and covered her but it was only good for a two count.

Stephanie held one of Paige's arms as she waited for her to stand and then whipped her hard across the ring, chest first into the corner and as she bounced out Stephanie caught her in a perfectly executed inverted headlock backbreaker.

Cole took up the commentary, "I told you John, Paige can't stand much more of this. One, two, oh that was close. I thought Stephanie had it."

"It takes more than that to beat the Divas Champion Michael," JBL replied with satisfaction. The resilient Paige was on her feet again almost as fast as Stephanie but Stephanie caught her with another pair of powerful martial arts kicks and then a big forearm which sent Paige to the corner again.

Cole's voice rose once more, "Paige is reeling." But as Stephanie ran into the corner Paige moved aside and it was Stephanie's turn to crash into it chest first. As Stephanie turned around holding her chest in pain Paige quickly grabbed her and went for the Paige Turner as King exclaimed, "That's it, Paige hits this and it's over." But Stephanie was able to escape Paige's grasp. Paige turned around and caught Stephanie with a right hand which sent her sprawling onto the middle rope. As she did so the noise rose in the crowd from those who knew what would come next. Stephanie righted herself from the middle rope and used the momentum she had as she came off to catch Paige with a vicious clothesline that made an audible crack as it impacted Paige's chin and nearly sent her for a backflip.

As this happened Cole groaned loudly, "Ohhh, no one's getting up from that," and JBL simultaneously yelled, "Ball game!" He was right, Stephanie rolled Paige over as she had landed face down and hooked a leg as she pinned her and the crowd counted along with the referee, "One! Two! Three!" They cheered as Stephanie made a good job of looking shocked at what she had just achieved, wide eyed and holding one hand over her mouth as the referee raised her hand and she was announced as the winner.

Cole yelled, "She did it King, Stephanie McMahon beat the Divas Champion."

JBL laughed, "Not only that Michael, I think she knocked Paige clean out. Stephanie hits that clothesline and it's all over, I don't care who she's in there with. Trust me, a clothesline is something that I know about."

King laughed, "Right." The segment ended with Stephanie shown leaving the ring and then Paige still lying flat on her back, apparently unconscious with a doctor crouching over her.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephanie walked back through the curtain with a huge smile on her face. She was congratulated on her win by the Rhodes brothers who were next up to out to the ring and she thanked them politely. She began to walk towards the women's locker room but heard a man's voice from behind her, "Stephanie." She turned around and saw Paul approaching. "Yes sir?" She asked nervously.

Paul smiled and reassured her, "I said call me Paul, enough with this sir stuff. I'm very impressed Stephanie, we didn't have the time available to make the match any longer than that but you did really well and I love that finish you've got."

Stephanie beamed, "Thank you," then added nervously, "I caught Paige pretty hard with it."

The smile remained on Paul's face, "She'll be okay and it looked good, that's the main thing. Anyway what I wanted to tell you is I've had you booked to beat AJ next week and if you impress me again I've got something big lined up for you."

Stephanie's eyes widened, "Bigger than beating Paige and AJ?"

"Yes, so don't let me down."

"I won't." Stephanie assured him, trying to sound confident.

Paul nodded and watched as Stephanie walked away. There was something about this girl that he found incredibly attractive, he had felt this way since the first time he saw her in NXT. It helped that she really was very talented but Paul would be lying to himself if he pretended that her talent was the only reason he was having her pushed so hard. He needed to be careful not to speak to Stephanie too often when Trish was around. She had already made it clear that she was not keen on Stephanie being pushed so quickly and he did not want her to start getting insecure about it. Even with Trish being one of the senior members of the creative team she had no authority to over rule a decision that Paul made. When she heard his next plan for Stephanie he would have some explaining to do for sure. He returned to the production office and sat down next to Trish who was sipping from a cup of coffee as she watched her monitor. She looked at him as he sat and asked, "You've got her beating AJ next week too?"

"That's right."

"You think burying our top two divas is a good idea?"

Paul smiled, "Come on Trish, Stephanie is the complete package you can see that as well as I can. She's tall, she's strong, she can sell moves well and she can talk better than any of the other divas, that's her best talent. We saw all of those things on NXT."

"Hmmmm." Trish sounded distinctly unconvinced and she returned her attention to her monitor.

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><p>Stephanie was given a longer match the next week on Raw against AJ Lee. They had already been battling away, exchanging near falls for almost seven minutes. AJ had gained the advantage and dominated for the last couple of minutes and she went for the Black Widow and Cole announced, "Black Widow, no, she can't get it locked in."<p>

Stephanie struggled free and spun around to face AJ but as she did so AJ caught her with a right hand. It sent Stephanie sprawling onto the middle rope and King yelped, "Look out AJ!"

Stephanie came off the ropes and caught AJ hard with her clothesline finisher, knocking AJ flat on her back as JBL yelled, "Ball game!" Again he was right as Stephanie covered AJ and got the three count to a respectable cheer from the crowd. Michael Cole was excited, "We're really seeing something here guys. Stephanie McMahon has beaten Paige and now AJ."

JBL said, "I told you last week, Stephanie hits that clothesline and you can forget about it."

Stephanie's hand was raised and she was announced as the winner. After a few moments of celebration she left the ring and walked up the entrance ramp. As she walked back through the curtain she had a smile on her face again as she had the week before. She had hoped that Paul would be there to congratulate her again but there was no sign of him. She reminded herself not to get above her station, just because he had complimented her on her debut did not mean that she was something special. She headed for the locker room.

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><p>The reason that Paul was not there to congratulate Stephanie was that he was sitting in his office waiting to have an argument, at least he expected to have one at any moment. He knew that Trish was in the creative office and that while she was there she was almost certain to find out his next plan for Stephanie and when she did she would not be pleased about it to say the least. It only took another few minutes before Trish came crashing through the door and demanded, "Are you serious right now?"<p>

"Huh?" Paul pretended not to know what she was referring to. Trish stood over him with her hands on her hips and her eyes flashed with anger, "Don't huh me! What the hell are you doing? You've written a storyline position of a General Manager and you want to give it to Stephanie McMahon? Are you actually on drugs right now or..."

"Oh that." Paul said calmly. Trish raged, "Yes that! What the hell are you thinking? We have no need to cast someone as a General Manager and even if we did why would it possibly be her? She's only just made the Raw roster and I wasn't even convinced about that."

Paul already had an answer prepared for this outburst, "I think we do need a General Manager. My character going out there and bullying everyone each week is starting to get a little old quite frankly. I need someone to give me some competition in that regard. I cast Stephanie because she's by far the best talker we have in the divas division..."

Trish was still raging as she cut him off, "And I presume there's a reason that this part had to go to a woman? Also there must be a reason that you didn't consult with me on this? I'm supposed to be getting promoted to be in charge of the creative department and yet you're still writing stuff behind my back."

Again Paul was prepared, "It didn't have to be a woman, I wanted to write something that's never been done before. I know it's going to be your department soon but even when it is I can still write storylines if I choose to, you know that. Please try to stop being angry and actually consider what I've come up with. We're going to write Stephanie as what she actually is, someone who knows nobody here, knows little about how things work around here and yet she gets thrown in at the deep end. Think about it, we could have her make all kinds of crazy matches that have never been seen before. We could write some really imaginative stuff and use her character to get it out there."

Trish calmed own a little, "I do kind of like the sound of that last part but if that's how we're going to write her how the hell do we write her into getting the job to start with? Why or how would someone who has no experience get the job as General Manager?"

"I've already thought about that. This is what I've got in mind." He outlined his plan and Trish's eyes widened, "You're bringing the boss in on this? She hardly ever appears on TV. You're really keen on this idea huh? You're sure she will go for this?"

Warming to the task now Paul continued confidently, "As I said we can put a lot more imagination into the storylines with this angle and I'm confident that Stephanie can do it. I need the boss there as she needs to be the one to appoint her to the position as it would make no sense for me to do it. She mentioned in that creative meeting a few weeks back that she wants TV time and this is our chance to write some for her. She will be a part of this storyline to so I'm sure that she'll back me on it. I need to speak to Stephanie about all of this later too."

"You've not even mentioned this to her yet?" Trish sounded as though she disbelieved him now but Paul smiled, "All I said was that I had an opportunity coming up for her. She seemed excited about it."

Trish snorted, "I bet she did. I wonder how she will feel about not wrestling."

"Who said anything about not wrestling? She can play this part and wrestle. I'm going to go speak to her about it."

"No you're not," Trish insisted, "Creative is my department and I will deal with it. Unless you want to take all of my responsibilities from me?"

Paul smiled once more as he decided to flatter his wife and get what he wanted at the same time. Flattery always worked like a charm on Trish, if anything it was too easy, "We'll both do it. I'll invite her to have lunch with us tomorrow before we come to tape Smackdown and you can tell her. You know how all of the divas we hire look up to you, I bet she would be awed to meet you." Trish managed a little smile at that, "You think she would?"

"Of course. You're the best diva of all time by a long distance. Come on you know this is a good idea and..."

Trish sighed, "Alright you go tell her then." Paul took her right hand in his left and pulled her down onto the chair beside his own, "I'll go speak to her but I'm going to have to calm you down first." Trish finally produced a genuine smile, "Really? How do you intend to do that?" Paul used a finger to turn her head towards him, "I was thinking of starting like this," then he kissed her.

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><p>Stephanie had changed out of her ring gear and was finishing up packing her bag ready to leave to head back to the hotel. As she picked up her bag the only other person in the locker room with her, Paige spoke, "See you tomorrow for the Smackdown taping?"<p>

"Yeah," Stephanie confirmed with a smile before adding, "I'm not wrestling though."

Paige laughed, "I get the feeling they'll be using you twice a week soon."

"I hope so. See you tomorrow. She almost made it to the locker room door before it opened and in walked Brie Bella. She looked at Stephanie and informed her with a hint of coldness in her voice, "Triple H is looking for you, for some reason."

"He is? Where is he?"

"Waiting out in the hallway." She watched Stephanie hurry out of the door and then turned to Paige in obvious jealousy and irritation, "We've got a new teacher's pet."

Stephanie hurried up to Paul with her bag hooked over her right shoulder, "You wanted to see me sir... Paul?"

Paul was leaning with his back against the hallway wall and he had smiled as Stephanie approached. This girl was stunningly beautiful. He had never seen anyone who came close in his life before, not even his wife. She had such incredible long legs and her smile blew him away every time he saw it. He realised that he had not provided a response to her question. "Yes Stephanie. If you recall I mentioned having an opportunity for you?"

How could she have forgotten? "Yes I remember."

The smile remained on Paul's face, "My wife and I would like you to join us for lunch tomorrow before the Smackdown taping to discuss it."

"Lunch with you and Trish? Oh my god," Stephanie blurted out excitedly.

Paul laughed, "So that's a yes?"

"Yes, definitely yes," Stephanie beamed, "Thank you for the opportunity uh... whatever it is."

"We're staying in the same hotel that you're in. Be in the restaurant at twelve thirty."

Stephanie nodded, "Yes sir... Paul." She silently cursed herself for continually doing that as he walked away. She just was not comfortable with referring to her boss by his first name. Not yet anyway, maybe having lunch with him would help. He was really a great boss, he was giving her one hell of a push and now this new opportunity. He was always kind and now he had invited her to lunch with her idol Trish Stratus. This was too good to be true. Stephanie watched Paul walking away and thought that in addition to all of these qualities he was hot too. His body was close to perfection. She ordered herself not to even consider thinking like that, not about her boss.


	3. Chapter 3

It was too late when Stephanie realised that she had nothing in her case that would be appropriate to wear for lunch with her boss and her idol. Neither a short skirt or a pair of jeans seemed like something that she should go for but they were the available options. She silently cursed herself for not thinking about it sooner as she tried to decide what to wear. She remembered something that she had once been told at a moment like this when a tough decision had to be made, "Flip a coin, when it's in the air you'll know which side you're hoping for." She smiled as she did just that and found herself hoping for a tail, the short skirt. That was the decision made so she selected a light grey crop top which would look good with the black skirt. Next up was to fix her hair and make up and do it quickly. Being late was not an option.

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><p>Paul resisted the temptation to look at his watch. He was sure that it was twelve thirty and there was no sign of Stephanie. His thoughts of her were interrupted by a server bringing his coffee and green tea for Trish. Paul had no idea how she could drink crap like that. He blinked his eyes to clear his mind and focus on what his wife had just said, "Talking the boss into this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be then?"<p>

Paul smiled at his own achievement, "I told you honey this is a good idea. Let me worry about the boss, what I need you to do is get on board with this yourself. If you don't get behind it the guys in your department won't get behind it so much either."

"It's not my department yet," Trish moaned as she sipped her very hot tea, "She's not actually given me the promotion yet even though I expected to get it weeks ago."

Paul sensed an opportunity, "Well what if I told her that you came up with this idea? I don't think I actually mentioned that the idea was mine when I called her earlier. She liked it so maybe if you took the credit she would have faith in you."

Trish's eyes narrowed slightly and she brushed a hand through her blonde hair which looked to Paul like a sign of nervousness or insecurity, "You don't think she has faith in me?"

Paul phrased his reply carefully, "I meant that maybe it would give her that extra push into promoting you, not that she has no faith in you now. If she had no faith in you I'm sure she would have made the clear by now, she doesn't exactly hold back on things like that. I'm trying to help you honey, you can have the credit for my idea." He watched as Trish absently looked into her cup of tea for a few seconds and then mumbled, "Okay. Okay I'll get behind it. We'll tell Stephanie that this was my idea and then you can tell the boss."

Paul drank some coffee to cover his involuntary smile, "Tell her yourself, she doesn't bite."

Trish snorted, "That's not what I've heard and in any case she doesn't speak to me. She doesn't speak to anyone on the creative or production side of the company apart from you unless she randomly walks into a meeting. I think I've only ever spoken to her twice and then it was only to answer a question." Paul was about to respond but Trish continued with a shake of her head, "Running WWE at twenty six. What was her dad thinking?"

Paul laughed at that, "It's obvious what he was thinking. He was thinking about retiring at fifty and that money would still never be a problem. Who can blame him? So he left it all to his daughter and went back to Italy. You just have to get used to..."

Paul tried not to react to Trish's interruption which was delivered with a hint of distaste, "Here's Stephanie now, she's nearly got a skirt on."

As Stephanie walked into the restaurant and looked around, seeing the table at which Paul and Trish were waiting her heart pounded in her chest. Lunch with her boss and her idol to discuss a big creative opportunity, was this even real? She considered another problem, Paul and Trish were sitting opposite each other so who should she sit next to? Everything about this felt awkward to Stephanie as she was not naturally a confident person. She managed to portray one in the ring but the reality was something else, she felt shy and nervous to even be around these people. As she got closer to the table she saw that Trish had noticed her arrival and that of the four available places at the table only three had been set which at least took one decision away from her. She would be sitting next to Trish. She willed her voice not to show her nerves or the fact that she felt star struck as she replied to Trish's warm greeting which was, "Hi Stephanie, nice to meet you." Predictably her voice or the words that spilled out did not live up to their end of the bargain, "Hi Trish, it's an honor to meet you."

Paul had been a little surprised that Trish had switched from cold to warm so quickly at Stephanie's arrival but he figured that at least she was making an effort. He spoke kindly to Stephanie, "Have a seat and we'll order some lunch."

Stephanie smiled at her boss. "Yes sir... Paul," instantly raging at herself for doing that yet again. Why could she not just feel comfortable around these rich and powerful legends of the business? The answer was obvious to her, she was none of those things and she never would be. She lived in a one bedroom condo and had almost no savings. Things would pick up in that regard now that she was on the Raw roster and making more money but a legend of the wrestling industry? She told herself as she sat next to Trish, someone who truly was, that was never going to happen. She was not that good but then why was she getting all of this attention from Paul? As she was not accustomed to discussing business matters over a meal Stephanie was unsure why the opportunity that had been mentioned was not being discussed after they had all ordered food. Instead Paul and Trish asked her questions about her life and her family background. At least they seemed genuinely interested in her answers, especially Paul. After almost fifteen minutes of this the food was delivered and Stephanie eagerly attacked her baked potato as Paul said, "So Stephanie, Trish would like to tell you about her idea."

Paul congratulated himself on his brilliance as Trish finished her mouthful of food and smiled at him. He had written himself and Stephanie a storyline so that they would be working together and now Trish was delighted with him for letting her take the credit for it. It was genius. He told himself as he had many times before that he should not be doing this or even thinking about Stephanie in anything other than a professional sense as he was a married man but the facts were the facts. The very sight of Stephanie drove him crazy. He looked across the table at her and smiled as he thought that despite the small piece of baked potato sitting on her top which had obviously gone unnoticed by her she was stunningly beautiful. It was sitting on her chest and what a chest it was, Trish was certainly nothing to complain about in that regard but even so Stephanie's was amazing.

He helped Stephanie out by hinting with his eyes as he wiped his own chest with a finger and she got the message and looked down removed the piece of potato without even considering how Paul had noticed it. Stephanie gave Trish her full attention as she began to explain the idea of having the unsuspecting Stephanie McMahon character thrown into the position of General Manager even though she had no experience and the benefits and creative freedom that this would bring to the storylines. Stephanie had been awed by all of this before and now she was convinced that either this was a dream or that Paul and Trish were ribbing her for some sadistic reason. Things only got worse in this regard when she heard Trish say, "Obviously the problem that presented itself was how to get you into the role to begin with, how would someone who is clearly unfit for the job uh... get the job? So Paul talked to the boss and she's coming in on this story too."

That did it for Stephanie, she could not help her next response, "Okay you're not serious are you? You're ribbing me or something? I mean this can't all be true."

Paul laughed and nearly choked on his food, "No, it's definitely true. My wife comes up with some brilliant creative ideas, right honey?"

Trish beamed, "Right. So this is what's going to happen." She proceeded to tell Stephanie the rest of the storyline that would lead to her getting the job as General Manager. Half of Stephanie's baked potato sat untouched on her plate as she listened, it had been totally forgotten about. Stephanie's head was spinning but she tried to make herself not sound as overcome by what was happening as she really was, "Trish I can't thank you enough for this. I won't let you down, either of you. I can't wait to start on this... wait when does this start?".

Now finished with his lunch Paul sat back in his chair in satisfaction as he watched the two women chatting away. He could tell that Stephanie's enthusiasm had been infectious to Trish and now she was excited about the idea too. He watched as Trish answered the question that Stephanie had asked, "As you know we have a pay per view next weekend. Paul's character is going to interfere in the main event and cost Daniel Bryan the title. The next night there will supposedly be rumors that some of the superstars are talking about walking out on him and the WWE and going on strike due to his constant abuse of power. That's why the boss shows up and you already know what happens then."

Paul checked his watch and realised that sadly this lunch had lasted too long already. He and Trish should have left to prepare for Smackdown already, "Well that's it Stephanie unless you have questions? I need to pay for this lot and then Trish and I have to get to Smackdown."

Stephanie managed to prevent herself saying sir which she was pleased about, "Okay Paul, Trish. Thank you for the food and for this opportunity. It means so much to me. Thank you."

Paul nodded and Trish smiled, "You're welcome." As Stephanie left the table Paul avoided looking at the very visible, very beautiful legs. He was pleased to hear Trish say, "You know I've changed my mind about her. I like her attitude, she doesn't think that she's something special or that she's entitled to anything. I like her."

Paul was thinking that he very much liked Stephanie too and that Trish was wrong, she was definitely something special.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been difficult but necessary. Paul had avoided speaking to or about Stephanie and eventually it had helped. He realised that he was obsessed with her but deliberately staying away had eased the feelings and the desire for her that were burning inside of him. He had even found himself thinking about Stephanie during sex with Trish and he felt guilty, that was just plain wrong and he knew it. Now he was backstage and on tonight's Raw the storyline with Stephanie getting the General Manager job was going to begin. Paul was excited for it, he had not only created this storyline to get close to Stephanie, he actually believed that it would be good. Another benefit was that eventually he would spend less TV time acting the part of the man in charge and more time as a wrestler which was something that he wanted.

Also he felt a little nervous tonight which definitely was not something that he was accustomed to. There was only one person that he could think of who made him feel that way and she was going to walk into the office at any moment now. The boss was always at the arena in plenty of time for the show on the rare occasions that she showed up. Now it was going to be a regular thing and Paul was not sure how he felt about that. She had left him in the COO position that her dad had given to him before he retired. He was young for such a position but the old man had shown faith in him and he was doing a good job. This was not arrogance this was fact, the ratings were high as was morale in the locker room which were the two main things that he needed to concern himself with which meant the boss had no reason to lack faith in him. It was not that he thought that she lacked faith or doubted his ability, it was just that you never seemed to know where you stood with her. It was hard to explain, it was just very unsettling. Paul smiled as he thought that she must be very hard work for her husband. Paul had never met the guy but he had seen the expensive silver wedding ring that she wore.

So infrequent were her visits to the arena that there was no office for her, she would work out of Paul's. He figured that this would change soon enough now that she was going to be here every week. It would only be for Raw of course, there was no way she would make an appearance on Smackdown that was for sure. Paul shifted nervously on his feet and his wife giggled from her position standing next to him as they both waited, "Look at you. You look like you're about to go into the principle's office."

Paul laughed as that was close to how he felt. He assured himself as much as Trish by boasting, "Don't be stupid, she doesn't make me nervous. No one does." Trish sniggered, "Right. Your tie isn't straight." She laughed again as Paul instinctively checked his blue tie with his hands and he realised that she had got him. "Bitch," he moaned playfully. Trish was laughing as the door opened and the boss walked in.

She looked at Trish for a half second as though she found laughing to be inappropriate which left Trish feeling very uneasy before speaking to Paul, "Paul, good to see you." There was not much in the tone to confirm that the statement was true but the hint of a smile helped. There was also no trace of an Italian accent despite her heritage although Paul was aware that she was fluent in Italian as he had heard her going at it with someone on the phone once, presumably her dad.

Paul offered his hand and it was shaken firmly and he made sure that got the Italian pronunciation of her name perfect. "Hi Laura, good to see you. How was your flight?" Paul considered that although she often seemed cold she was definitely beautiful. She had long, straight jet black hair which almost reached the middle of her back and green eyes which formed a contrast that seemed to draw you in and make it hard to look away from her. Her skin was naturally dark due to her Italian heritage and the expensive black suit, light grey blouse and silver necklace and watch she wore only made her look more attractive to him. Paul had never seen her in anything other than a suit but he imagined that her long legs must look great. That thought sent him back to thinking about Stephanie whose legs definitely did look great. There were beautiful women everywhere but Paul would not allow himself to think about Laura that way. Thinking it about Stephanie and Trish was more than enough to try to deal with.

Laura's tone conveyed disinterest in response to Paul's question, "Long," before she moved on to Trish. Trish held her hand out to the woman who was at least three inches taller than her, "Hi Laura." Trish also nailed the strange pronunciation on what was actually her first attempt at it when speaking to her boss, much to her own surprise. The previous limited number of occasions that Trish had spoken to Laura had only been to answer a question in a meeting, there had never been an introduction. This made Trish wonder if using her first name had been a mistake and she was still no closer to an answer on that after the handshake and the response, "Trish."

Apparently that was as close to pleasantries as it was going to get as the next thing Trish heard was, "I read your script on the flight. Not bad." Trish smiled, "Thank you," and Paul offered helpfully, "We can read through it again if you like?" Laura turned to him, "Why? You know what to say don't you?"

There it was again, almost causing Paul to smile, her uncanny ability to make people, even himself feel uneasy with only one sentence. He did his best to sound casual, "Of course. I just thought you might like to go over it again?"

"No thank you."

Trish felt awkward too and she tried to fish for some praise on what was now being made out to be her work, "So Laura you uh... liked what I wrote? I put a lot of thought into it and the creative freedom it will give us will be great. I know you mentioned to Paul that you wanted to be on TV more and the fans will mark out big time when you appear. They always do when..."

Laura appeared to lose interest as Trish rambled, "Yes I like it. I wouldn't have agreed to be here tonight if I didn't. We're missing someone." Trish had hoped to get some kind of indication on when her promotion was going to happen but that obviously had not worked out at all, "You want me to get Stephanie in here?"

Laura turned to Paul, "No. Paul will get her in here, he's in charge of the talent and you're in charge of creative Trish. Unless I've missed something?"

Trish felt brave, "I'm not in charge of creative yet. I was hoping to talk with you about that." She was pleased that this raised another hint of a smile from Laura although what kind of smile it was and the meaning of it remained unclear, "Don't worry I haven't forgotten about you, we'll talk in due course."

"I'll be right back then," Paul headed off to find Stephanie. He was happy to leave Trish with Laura, the conversation had been more awkward than he had imagined. He was not sure if that was intentional on Laura's part or if it just happened naturally when she spoke to people who worked under her. Paul dismissed Laura from his head and concentrated on Stephanie instead. He was anticipating having to send someone into the women's locker room to fetch Stephanie again but as he walked along the hallway towards it he saw Stephanie approaching and she was already dressed in her ring gear. She smiled as she saw him and Paul was sure that his heart missed a beat. How could anyone be this beautiful? It was actually ridiculous. Added to her natural beauty was the ring gear that she was wearing. She looked amazing in it. Paul wanted so badly just to kiss her and see what happened but how could he? He was married and even more importantly he figured that Stephanie had no interest in him.

On that he was very much wrong. Stephanie did not have the same burning desire that Paul did but as they approached each other she admitted to herself that she most definitely found him attractive. In fact he was one of if not the hottest guy she had met in her life but he was also her boss and he was married. It was not appropriate to think about him in that way especially when he was being so kind to her and giving her this incredible opportunity. Well, Trish had actually written it but Paul must have backed it. This was so crazy, she was living the dream and it was better than she could have ever imagined.

They both smiled as they reached each other in the hallway and Paul greeted, "Stephanie I was looking for you." He liked the way that she always seemed shy, almost nervous and this was still the case now as she replied, "You were?" As much as Paul liked the nervousness he knew someone who definitely would not, "Yes I was. You need to come and meet the boss." He began to lead the way and Stephanie strode alongside him as she babbled excitedly, "She wants to meet me? Oh my god. This is so great..."

Paul stopped walking and Stephanie again followed suit, "Stephanie, Trish and I think that your enthusiasm is great but..." Stephanie beamed as she interrupted, "You do? I can't help it, this is all too good to be true..."

Paul spoke a little firmer to make sure that she listened, "You can't go in there like this. You need to act calm and professional if you want to impress Laura, and impress her is what you need to do. Also for god's sake pronounce her name correctly."

Stephanie smiled as they continued walking again, "I can pronounce her name don't worry and I'll act a professional as I can. I can't wait to meet her." Paul noticed that the enthusiasm was bubbling over again after just two sentences, who knew maybe Laura would like it? He doubted it but stranger things had happened, maybe. He decided to leave Stephanie to handle herself and he would only step in if things went badly. At least his storyline was going ahead and he would soon be in a rivalry with Stephanie's character which meant spending a lot of time with her on and off the screen. As they reached his office Paul told her, "We're here. I'll introduce you."

"Thank you. I'm so excited!"

Shaking his head slightly as he opened the door Paul led Stephanie in. Laura was the only person in the room and she was drinking a cup of coffee. Paul forgot about his introduction, "Where's Trish?" Laura drained her drink and set the cup down on Paul's desk, "She has work to do, as do we." It was the next thing that happened that stunned Paul even more than it did Stephanie. Laura walked over to Stephanie and smiled as she offered her hand, "Laura Molinaro. I'm very pleased to meet you Stephanie. I've seen some of your work and I'm very impressed, with your mic work especially. Raw talent such as yours is something that this company needs more of."

Stephanie had shaken the hand and blushed, "Thank you so much. I'm delighted to meet you. It's such an honor, thank you for this opportunity. I won't let you down."

Paul had been wondering if Trish had put something into Laura's drink and as Stephanie began babbling enthusiastically he waited for some kind of negative response but instead Laura enthused, "This. This is what I want your character to be when you get the General Manager position. At least to begin with I want to see your character exactly like this." Stephanie was nervous, shy and star struck but she was also a smart woman and she quickly replied with confidence that she did not really feel, "I was actually in character. I wanted to see what you thought."

Knowing that this was a lie Paul closed his eyes as he expected Laura to see it too but he heard a laugh and then, "That's very good. I'm looking forward to working with you." Paul was about to say something but Laura had continued, "I have a segment to film as do you Paul so I suggest that you get on that. We'll talk again Stephanie." All that Paul got was a slight nod and with that Laura left the room and closed the door.

Paul looked at Stephanie and laughed, "How did you do that?" Stephanie shrugged and smiled, "I don't know. I just seem to impress everyone around here by being myself."

Paul managed to hide his smile as he thought that she was right. She had impressed him even without her stunning beauty and she had managed to make Trish warm up to her. Even more remarkably she had impressed Laura. At least it was not going to be a tough task to keep Stephanie's storyline going. If only she felt anything for him and if only he was not married. It was so frustrating, the woman drove him crazy. "Let's read through the script together," he offered but Stephanie said, "I don't have any lines tonight, I just have to stand there and look shocked."

Paul handed her his script with a smile, "Right, of course. You can help me then." Stephanie did not know why she was so tempted to kiss him as she took the script and looked up into his eyes. "Okay."


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Laura would obviously use No Chance In Hell for her theme music because it's just the perfect theme for the boss. Always has been, always will be._

* * *

><p>Paul walked into the gorilla position and saw Stephanie waiting to go out into the arena to start the segment which would end with her as the General Manager. He walked up behind her, studying her perfectly shaped rear in her leather ring gear as he did so. What he would do to that ass given half the chance. He hoped that the erection he began to get would not become noticeable through his suit pants as he said, "Ready to go Stephanie? Looking forward to it?" He saw her jump at the sound of his voice and she turned around and smiled nervously, "I'm looking forward to it but my heart is pounding. Just being in the segment before the main event is enough without what's actually going to happen in it." That was not the only reason that her heart was pounding. She had nearly kissed Paul earlier in his office and now his presence next to her was making her feel tempted to do so again. She willed her focus to return to the job at hand.<p>

The stage had been set throughout the night for what was about to happen. At the previous night's pay per view Paul's character Triple H had cost Daniel Bryan the WWE title, causing him to lose it to Randy Orton. To start tonight's Raw Michael Cole had recapped this and then mentioned that there were rumors of superstars going on strike in protest against Triple H abusing his power as COO.

For the first segment Triple H had walked down to the ring and said that he had an announcement to make. Before he could make the announcement he had been interrupted by Daniel Bryan who had came down to the ring and ranted about Triple H abusing his power and demanded a rematch for the title. After Triple H had raged about being interrupted and insulted Daniel a fight had broken out which needed to be separated by a group of referees who ran down to the ring.

Later in the night Triple H had again walked to the ring and said again that he had an announcement to make and warned that he expected not to be interrupted. He was immediately interrupted by John Cena. John got in the ring and informed Triple H that he had been asked to represent a group of twenty one superstars in the back who had put together the list of demands which he had on a piece of paper in his hand and that if Triple H did not meet all of the demands on the list the twenty one superstars would go on strike starting from the next show, Smackdown. Triple H asked to see the list and as John handed it over Triple H tore the paper to pieces and threw them at John as he raged that he did not respond to demands. He then attacked John leading to another wild fight which last for several minutes and ended with John going through the commentary table.

The commentators added to the build up throughout the night by arguing about whether Triple H had lost control of the locker room and if anyone would even show up for Smackdown. A locker room full of superstars was shown and most of them were packing up their things and making to leave. Triple H's lackey Jamie Noble was in the locker room and he was raging at them not to dare to walk out but they ignored him and began to file out of the room and it was obvious that they were going on strike.

After another match the parking garage was shown and several superstars were seen walking out of the arena. The commentators discussed what a mess Triple H had got the company into although JBL was predictably defending him and blaming all of the other superstars instead for their lack of professionalism.

Michael Cole had just announced that the next contest was a divas match between Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella but Triple H was shown backstage on the big screen raging at Jamie Noble for letting the superstars walk out of the locker room and out of the building, as if he could have stopped them. Triple H stormed out of the shot as Stephanie's generic music started to play in the arena.

Behind the curtain Paul smiled at Stephanie, "Here we go. Enjoy it." Stephanie actually did not have much of a part to play or any lines to deliver in the segment but she was still incredibly nervous. She walked through the curtain and it began.

* * *

><p>The commentators were still discussing the disaster unfolding backstage with so many stars walking out on strike as Stephanie made her entrance. It was not until she was nearly in the ring that Stephanie was even mentioned by Michael Cole, "Well we've apparently still got our divas match. Here comes Stephanie McMahon, set to take on Brie Bella."<p>

King also diverted his attention to the ring as Stephanie entered it, "This should be good. Stephanie is unbeaten on Raw..." He was interrupted by Triple H's King of Kings theme music. Stephanie was shown looking understandably confused and nervous as he stormed down the ramp. Cole demanded, "What's he doing out here again now? Hasn't Triple H done enough damage for one night? We're supposed to be having a divas match."

"Forget the divas match," JBL ordered, "Here comes the boss and he clearly has something to say. I've been waiting to hear the announcement all night." Triple H clearly did have something to say as he snatched a microphone from the ring announcer and pointed to the corner of the ring as he angrily ordered Stephanie who was standing in the middle of the ring looking at him and obviously asking what was going on, "Stand over there and shut up."

The crowd booed loudly at his rudeness as Stephanie did as ordered, Triple H was the most hated character on the show by a large margin. Triple H continued loudly and angrily, "I've been trying to make this announcement all night! I've been interrupted twice..." He was interrupted again, this time by the crowd with a loud chant of "Asshole!" Triple H's face began to turn red as he yelled over the top of the chanting, "I've been interrupted twice and I will not stand for it! If anyone dares to interrupt me again tonight I'll fire them on the spot and I don't give a damn who it is!"

The crowd booed loudly as Triple H continued raging, "I will not be dictated to by Daniel Bryan! I will not be dictated to by John Cena! I will not be dictated to by anyone in that locker room!" This was the key line for the earlier shot of the parking garage to reappear on the big screen. Several more superstars could be seen walking out of the arena as a huge black limo pulled in and came to a stop. Triple H was still ranting in the ring but a large portion of the crowd had seen the image change on the screen and were now focussed on that instead, wondering what was happening as was Michael Cole, "What is this? Now what's going on out there?"

The rear door of the limo opened and Laura emerged wearing an incredibly angry expression to an eruption from the crowd which drew Triple H's attention to the screen as Michael Cole yelled, "That's Laura Molinaro! Laura Molinaro is here!" King let out one of his trademark high pitched squeals. Triple H had stopped speaking as he watched Laura slam the limo door shut and begin storming into the arena. The crowd were going wild as they already sensed where this may be heading for Triple H who was shown shown looking concerned as he joined everyone else in staring at the screen. King yelled, "Look at Triple H," Apparently remembering JBL's earlier reference to Triple H as the boss he added, "There's the boss JBL, the real boss!"

Laura was storming along a hallway now past Ryback who tried to pretend that he was not about to walk out of the building even though he had his bag in his hand. Luckily for him Laura's attention was already clearly focussed on the man in the ring as Cole continued yelling, "Laura Molinaro is here! Triple H can't believe it! Look at the look on his face!" Triple H had just been shown again looking uncharacteristically nervous. As Laura turned a corner into a different hallway she disappeared from the shot and a few seconds later the shot of the empty hallway was replaced on the screen by Laura's entrance video and her music played, causing another eruption from the crowd and Cole to yell, "She's coming out here! What is happening? What the hell is happening?"

"Something bad," JBL mumbled, almost inaudible as Laura's music played over him.

"We know she's here..." King began excitedly, then with another roar from the crowd Laura appeared on the stage and King let out his trademark high pitched squeal again as Cole yelled, "There she is! Laura is back!" Laura stormed even more purposefully down the ramp and King pleaded, "Please tell me she's going to fire Triple H. This is going to be great."

Laura stormed up the ring steps and climbed into the ring as Cole advised, "You'd better come up with something fast Triple H." Triple H was shown clearly asking the boss what she was doing there as she snatched his microphone from him and her music stopped. Triple H could then clearly be seen saying, "I've got this."

The easiest part to act is the one which requires you to act the least and Laura was the type of person who did not need to raise her voice much for her anger to be perfectly clear and it certainly was clear as she stood nearly nose to nose with Triple H. "You've got this? I'll tell you what you've got. You've got an empty locker room and a parking lot full of superstars. You've got a main event with no competitors. You've got Smackdown Friday and you've got no idea if anyone is going to show up! In addition to that you've got an arena full of people who think you're an asshole!"

King shrieked again at that as the crowd roared. Triple H could just about be heard saying, "Laura calm down..."

"Shut up! You're a disaster! What the hell do you think you're doing? Who the hell do you think you are?"

Triple H was angry too now due to being embarrassed in public and barked at like that by a woman, owner of WWE or not. He took the microphone back and gave a very poorly thought out response as he raged back at Laura, "I'm the COO of this company! I'm doing my goddamn job and I'm doing it well! You couldn't find anyone to run this place better than I do!"

The crowd booed but Laura snatched the microphone back again and managed to sound even more threatening despite her voice actually being quieter than before, "I couldn't find anyone better than you? Hell, I could put her in charge and she'd be better than you!" Laura had pointed at the forgotten about Stephanie who was still standing in the far corner of the ring where she had been the whole time as all of this transpired.

Laura turned and looked at Stephanie as if the idea she had just proposed had only actually occurred to her after she had said it and it was now worthy of consideration. The crowd picked up on this from her curious expression and at the prospect of Triple H losing his position of power they quickly erupted into a "Yes!" chant as Laura studied Stephanie. JBL panicked, "No! Don't even think about it! Don't listen to these people!"

Apparently Stephanie was about as keen on the idea as JBL was. Her eyes were wide with apprehension and she raised a hand defensively and could be seen saying, "No." Laura turned back to face Triple H as she ordered venomously, "Say hello to the new General Manager of Raw and Smackdown, Stephanie McMahon!"

The crowd exploded and a few seconds later Laura's music played as she turned to leave. Triple H had lost his temper completely and turned around and stormed across the ring and kicked the ropes in uncontrollable anger then tore of his jacket and threw in onto the canvas as he raged at Laura's decision. He was wasting his energy as Laura had already left the ring and stormed down the ring steps and was now heading up the ramp. Stephanie stood in the corner looking dumbfounded and horrified at the same time.

As this happened Cole was yelling, "I don't believe it. I honest to god don't believe it. Laura Molinaro just made Stephanie McMahon our General Manager!" King joined in, "Triple H can't believe it. Stephanie McMahon can't even believe it."

Laura stopped at the top of the ramp and looked angrily back at Triple H who was still raging at her from the ring as JBL sent the show to commercial with, "I don't believe it either. Laura what have you just done? God help us all."


	6. Chapter 6

Walking slowly up the ramp and through the curtain with a look of shock on her face was Stephanie's final job of the night and this was only for the benefit of the live audience as Raw was now on a commercial break. As she got backstage Stephanie saw Paul waiting and she giggled with sheer excitement as she exclaimed enthusiastically, "Oh my god! That was awesome! That crowd was insane! You're so good!"

Paul could not help himself laughing, he liked her personality so much, in addition to the obvious physical attraction any right minded male would feel towards this stunningly beautiful woman. Maybe a few women would like her too? Maybe he and Trish could... He told himself to stop being a pervert and respond to Stephanie, "I'm glad that you uh... obviously enjoyed it. It'll be harder next week when you have lines to deliver."

"I realise that but I can't wait!" Stephanie moved closer to him and Paul could smell her. Again he fought the urge to kiss her but also a voice in his head told him that kissing Stephanie was inevitable and that he should just do it. Stephanie's own voice continued to bubble over with excitement, it was almost as if she was high, "Thank you so much again for this Paul. I don't know what I did to deserve it but I can't describe how great I feel right now."

Stephanie did not have far to look up into the eyes of her boss as she was almost as tall as him when the large heels of her wrestling boots were taken into account and as she did so she was fighting her totally inappropriate urge to kiss him again. It was making her ache to deny herself. Paul brought an end to their mutual turmoil which had lasted for an uncomfortable two seconds by saying, "We'd better find out if the boss is happy with it. If I know her she'll be clearing out of here any minute. She doesn't like to hang around."

As she watched him turn to head for his office Stephanie asked, "We? You want me to come?" Paul did not stop walking as he answered, "You don't want to know if she liked your performance?" Stephanie hurriedly trotted after him and caught up as he entered the hallway. "But I didn't really do anything," she said questioningly. Without thinking about what he was doing Paul put his left arm around Stephanie's shoulders as he explained kindly, "You can say a lot in this business with facial expressions alone and in that respect you performed very well."

Feeling herself tingling inside due to the fact that Paul was touching her Stephanie managed to say, "Right. I'll remember that." At that moment they made a right turn into another hallway, now only a few feet from Paul's office and fortunately he removed his arm before the woman who was outside of the door could see them. It helped that her back was to them.

The energy between Paul and Stephanie was dissipated for now as they stood and watched Laura ordering a large, bald headed man dressed in a suit, presumably someone from her security detail, "Get the limo ready to leave now, I'll be out soon. Tell them the plane had better be ready to go wheels up the second I get on board too. I might even make it home at a civilized hour."

The man nodded, "Yes boss," and walked quickly away to obey the orders that had been almost barked at him.

Laura's response was, "_Molto buona._" Paul and Stephanie shared a glance. Stephanie was thinking that on Laura's wrong side was not somewhere that she ever wanted to find herself, least of all now. Everything about the woman's body language screamed impatience right now. Paul was thinking that although he had no clue what she had just said to the guy there was something attractive about a woman speaking a foreign language, especially with perfect pronunciation like that. The words seemed to roll from her tongue somehow. It helped that she was hot of course. Why was it that everything about the women around him was turning him on? He decided that Trish was going to get drilled hard when they got back to the hotel room. He had to fuck someone that was for sure as his balls were literally aching to be emptied. Trish was the only option and frankly the third in his order of preference right now. He cursed himself for thinking about his wife that way but it was what it was. The first choice was standing right next to him. If only. His thoughts were interrupted by Laura turning around to walk back into the office and seeing them both standing there looking at her, "Take your time why don't you? Can we get this done, I need to get out of here."

Wisely Paul stopped himself from correcting the word need with want as he followed Laura into the office with Stephanie trailing behind. It was as he walked through the doorway that Paul saw that his wife was waiting in the office. He had just walked around the corner in the hallway with his arm around Stephanie and fantasized about making love to two other women, all of this within a few feet of her. He reasoned that what she did not know could not hurt her. As Paul walked over to his smiling wife and kissed her he said, "Hey." Stephanie closed the office door and Laura began impatiently, "Right, who's going first?"

Paul stood next to his wife and put an arm around her shoulders. Trish flicked a strand of her blonde hair away from her face and asked distractedly, "First with what?"

With a frustrated, very Italian hand gesture Laura growled angrily, "_Mannaggia! _First with opinions on that segment obviously!" If Trish had known Laura any better she would have known that if she started to slip into Italian involuntarily like this it was very often a direct indication that she was getting pissed off. The knowledge would have been very useful and might have prevented everything that was to come that night.

As Paul had put his arm around Trish Stephanie had watched from near the door, wondering what right she had to feel jealous that the man she worked for had just put his arm around his own wife. She also wondered if Trish was stupid. If she had ever seen someone more impatient to get out of somewhere than Laura obviously was right now then she could not remember it and yet Trish seemed intent on acting dumb despite this because the next thing she said was, "I thought it ran perfectly. The crowd went wild as I predicted, I don't think it could have been improved." Paul found himself thinking that Trish really should put her shovel down and stop digging a hole for herself as he saw Laura's eyes glint at his wife and then heard her almost spit, "_Porca miseria! _You're actually arrogant enough to think that your work cannot be improved?"

Unfortunately for Trish she did not take kindly to being insulted and although she had no clue what the words meant the fact that it had been an insult was obvious which caused her to bristle and dig herself deeper, "You just insulted me didn't you? Just because you do it in Italian..." Paul removed his arm from around Trish, thinking that if she wanted to go down that path then she was going alone. He had heard stories from the office and had no intention of being part of one himself.

Laura's voice had quietened slightly, not that it was a good thing, as she cut Trish off "Yes I insulted you in Italian and now I'm going to ask you a question in plain English. What is the long term plan for this storyline of yours? What's the payoff? Apparently you're the creative genius so let's hear it?"

It was instantly obvious to Paul that Trish was fucked. He had not told her his long term plans for the storyline that he had thought up and then allowed her to pass of as her own. There was certainly no way that he was going to admit to Laura that he had lied to her about it multiple times, after all it was not him that had pissed her off. He said nothing as Trish hesitated for a half second and glanced at him.

Clearly she was going to get no help from her husband and she had not put any thought into the storyline herself as yet so Trish blurted out the truth, "I'm not sure."

Paul noticed Stephanie's eyes widen in the background and she mouthed silently to him, "Oh shit." Her idol may have been the greatest diva in WWE history but she apparently lacked the ability to think fast under pressure.

Laura had moved uncomfortably close to Trish who could now smell the strong coffee on her boss' breath as her head tilted ever so slightly to one side. When she spoke her voice had gone very quiet and her eyes burned into Trish. "You're going to have to repeat that."

Trish gulped as she realised how deep the shit was that her husband had dropped her into with his stupid idea of her taking the credit for his work. Now she was about to get eaten alive for it and the bastard was not even helping her out. Feeling her palms sweating but with no other choice Trish spoke, "I'm sorry, I haven't thought it through that far. I..." Trish saw Laura take in a deep breath and stopped speaking. In a way she would have preferred the explosion that she had expected to what actually happened, given the implication of it for her career. Laura's voice did not raise, it somehow got even quiter as she pointed to the door, "Out."

Certainly needing no second invitation to escape the firing line Trish scurried for the door and disappeared, leaving Stephanie to push it closed after her. Laura turned to Stephanie and spoke normally now but there was an edge to her voice that left no one in any doubt that she was still just as angry, "Stephanie how would you describe my reaction to Trish's stupidity and incompetence?"

What was this? An invitation to walk into a minefield was what it sounded like to Stephanie as she carefully phrased her answer, "Uh... I'd say you were very angry."

Paul managed to prevent showing a reaction as Laura confirmed, "Very angry. And how would you imagine I would react if I found out that someone had decided to lie to me about who wrote a storyline to give his wife credit that she doesn't deserve?" It was clear that Trish's half second hesitation and glance at him had sent them both up the river as Laura had obviously caught it.

Stephanie did not want to answer as she obviously knew what the question meant but she heard herself say, "You'd be livid."

Laura turned and looked at Paul with those green eyes that were hard to look away from as she now used a friendly, conversational tone, which he was under no illusion meant she was anything but friendly, "That's worth thinking about, wouldn't you say?" Without waiting for a response Laura headed for the door and ordered, "Stephanie walk with me."

Stephanie did as ordered and followed her boss out of the office. As they walked up the hallway Laura spoke with her anger apparently subsiding, "I'll have someone contact you tomorrow, you need to wear a suit in your role as General Manager. You can't exactly wear that." She gestured at Stephanie's ring gear before continuing, "We'll get you fitted for some designer suits and get you some blouses and accessories so that you look the part."

Stephanie beamed, "Thank you, that will be great. But uh..." her voice had trailed off. Laura encouraged almost kindly, "Speak your mind."

"Shouldn't I like, wear a cheap suit for the first few shows? I'm not supposed to be prepared for this job and, well, who would believe that I could afford a suit like yours?"

Laura nodded, "You're right. Good thinking Stephanie, maybe I really should give you Paul's job."

Stephanie hoped that this was intended to be a joke although it was a long way from funny. She decided to change the subject from Paul, "You were harsh on Trish, you don't like her huh?" As she finished the question she regretted it as she wondered if she had just landed herself a roasting but the question was answered, "I don't like or dislike her. I don't know her. I have no interest in knowing her. What I do know is she's in the job that she's in because of who she's married to not because of any evidence of ability on her part. I've got news for her soon."

It was obvious to Stephanie what that meant. "Oh god."

Apparently Laura immediately regretted her revelation, "I shouldn't have said that Stephanie and it stays between the two of us, am I clear on that?"

"Perfectly."

The two women were now entering the parking garage and Laura's limo was ready and waiting. She smiled at Stephanie and said, "I'm interested to see how well you perform in this role Stephanie. I have high hopes for you. Goodnight."

Stephanie smiled at the back of her departing boss. "Thank you. Goodnight."

* * *

><p>As the two women had left the office Paul had mumbled to himself sarcastically, "That went well. Nice job Trish." How could she have handled herself any worse? Now the boss knew that he had lied to her. Trish had managed to drop him in the shit as well as herself with her stupidity. Why the hell had she said that she did not know the rest of the storyline? Hesitating and looking at him had been stupid enough without that. Even though it was true that she did not know she could have at least attempted some bullshit. This was the first night of many that Laura would be at the arena for Raw and it already felt to Paul that she was on the brink of firing both of them. It was all Trish's fault and now he was going to have to go find her. Even worse was the fact that he knew that when he did find her she would try to blame this total mess on him, he saw that coming already. There was no point delaying it so Paul headed out of the office, already preparing things to say during the inevitable argument that would take place as soon as he found his wife.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

Tonight had been another crazy night. Stephanie headed back towards the women's locker room to change and ran everything back through her mind again. She had met the owner of WWE, that was crazy enough on it's own. Even more crazy was the fact that Laura seemed to like her. Maybe like was not the right word but that was how it seemed. She had gone wild at Trish and had left Paul in no doubt that she was angry with him too but she had spoken kindly to Stephanie which could only be a good thing for her career to say the least.

Thoughts were still preoccupying Stephanie's mind as she walked into the women's locker room. The Bella twins were the only people in there and they looked to be ready to leave. Stephanie was so busy with her own thoughts that she wasn't sure if she had heard correctly. Had one of them just made some kind of snide comment under her breath as Stephanie walked by? Surely not, why would they do that?

As she opened her locker and began to remove her clothes Stephanie thought that it would be nice to try and make some friends in this place. Her career might be taking off but the time on the road alone was getting tough already. She looked over and smiled as she asked the twins, "Hey, you guys want to get a drink somewhere?"

Both twins looked at her with distaste or was it jealousy? Whatever it was Brie asked scornfully, "With you?" Nikki matched her sister's tone as she said, "I don't think so." With that and a final look of disgust from each of them as they departed the twins left Stephanie alone in the locker room with a look of confusion on her face as she asked herself sadly, "What did I do?"

* * *

><p>"What did I do?" Paul asked his wife as she glared at him from her sitting position on the bed in their hotel room. He had not been able to find her with his search backstage for the simple reason that as soon as Laura had dismissed her from the office she had hurried back to the hotel almost in tears. And now her husband had showed up and apparently he intended to act like he was innocent in the nights events which seemed to have gone a long way towards costing her the promotion she had been working towards for so long.<p>

Paul watched his wife clench her fists at her sides in obvious anger as she said angrily, "It's what you didn't do that's the fucking problem. You know damn well that you deliberately didn't step in and help me." Paul realised that he had been right, Trish really had expected him to throw himself to the wolves to save her from her own stupidity. Laura might not be the kind of person to scream at you when she was angry with you but in a way the way she spoke had more of an effect and certainly left you in know doubt how angry she was. Was Trish serious right now? He decided to find out, "What, you expect me to take the flack because you pissed her off?"

Trish leapt up from the bed at that and raged, "No I expect you to take the flack for your idiotic idea to lie to her about your stupid storyline!"

Paul laughed despite the fact that his irate wife's eyes were burning into him, "Oh it's idiotic and stupid now is it? Funny... it was great when you thought you were going to get the credit wasn't it? Now you've dropped us both in it."

This somehow managed the difficult task of making Trish even angrier, "Yeah, right! She's not going to fucking fire you is she? I'm the one who's going to pay for this, it's fucking obvious! You've cost me my promotion and all you had to do was admit that you lied to her."

This was a tough point to argue for Paul as it was probably true therefore he opted not to bother, "She's not going to deny you a promotion because of this. She was just impatient to get home and you irritated her. I'm sure it will be forgotten by next week," Paul said, not believing a word of it. If he had left it there things might have gone totally differently but without thinking he added, "At least she likes Stephanie apparently."

Trish snapped at him, "Everyone likes the fucking golden girl don't they? Why don't you tell me why that is? What exactly is it that _you _like so much about her?"

Paul made a mistake as he instinctively shifted his weight a little as he stood opposite his wife and even worse he glanced away from her as he said, "What are you talking about now?"

"Oh my god! It's true isn't it? You're attracted to her? That's what this is all about? You've cost me my promotion just to get a push for some nobody bitch because you like the way she looks!" Trish's face had gone bright red as she screamed.

Instantly realising that he had fucked up Paul decided that he had only one option. He would have to make Trish feel guilty for what she had just said. He did a good job of sounding hurt as well as angry, "You're going too far now Trish. It's one thing to have an argument over who's to blame for Laura being mad at us both but now you're accusing me of what? Wanting to cheat on you? I'm not putting up with that, I'm out of here."

As she saw her husband turn around to storm out Trish felt guilty. What on Earth had she accused him of that for? She didn't even know why the thought had popped into her head. Why would he want to cheat on her, least of all with Stephanie McMahon? He was almost out of the door when she said, "Wait Paul, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

She saw him stop walking and his huge shoulders tensed up and then he said angrily without turning around, "Well you shouldn't say shit without thinking. That's been your problem all night." He walked out of the door saying as he did so, "I'm out of here and when I come back, if I come back, I expect a better apology than that."

With a slam of the door he was gone. Trish felt tears welling up in her eyes. After sitting back down on the bed she managed to force herself not to cry before wiping angrily at one eye with each hand to clear the tears from them. She then ran a hand through her hair and groaned in frustration at herself, thinking that Paul was right, everything that had gone wrong tonight was her own fault. She walked into the bathroom and and washed her face with some cold water. As she did so she looked in the mirror and saw that her blonde hair was a mess and she looked like crap. She also felt like crap and it was her own fault. She told the reflection, "Stupid bitch."

* * *

><p>A room key card crashed onto a table in the corner of a hotel room and then a bag slammed onto the floor. Stephanie sat down sadly on the edge of the bed with a sigh of frustration. This was not something that had happened so far in her brief career, she felt lonely. Very lonely in fact. What the hell was wrong with those stupid Bella bitches? She briefly considered calling her parents or her brother but decided against it. What she needed was a drink, actually a lot of drink. She had not been drunk for a long time and maybe tonight should be the night. Who knew, there might even be some other divas or wrestlers in the bar, they were all staying in the same hotel after all. Maybe she could strike up a conversation with someone and actually make a friend to travel with. Most of the guys liked to travel in groups and hopefully she could make herself part of one. Failing that she could just get blind drunk.<p>

Suddenly feeling hopeful at the prospect of getting to know someone, anyone, she decided head for the bar right away. She walked over to the corner of the room and snatched the key card from the table and hurriedly left the room. As she closed the door and walked towards the elevator an image of Paul popped inexplicably into her head. What if he was in the bar? If he was he would be with Trish so it would be best to leave them alone as she felt sure that after what had happened in the office earlier they would not be on the best of terms with each other.

A couple of minutes later as she walked into the bar Stephanie noticed that it was quieter than she had expected. Maybe people preferred to go out into the city for a night out than drown their sorrows in the hotel? It was not an option for Stephanie as a few drinks in the bar was all she could really afford. She looked around for any familiar faces and saw Naomi and Cameron at the bar. Walking over with a smile on her face Stephanie said, "Hey."

The word was repeated back to her by both women but the smile certainly was not returned. Stephanie searched for an ice breaker and all she could come up with was, "Can I buy you both a drink?"

Cameron raised her nearly full cocktail in the air slightly, "Got one. Come on Nay." With that the two women walked away to find somewhere to sit, their body language making plain that Stephanie was not welcome to join them. This left Stephanie alone again wondering what she had done wrong. She decided that she'd had enough of being shy and polite to everyone. It obviously did not work anyway so she ordered and paid for a JD and coke and then walked over to the two other divas as they sat in conversation opposite each other at a table and asked, "Do you two have a problem with me?"

Stephanie watched as the two divas exchanged a glance and a hint of a smile before she got a response from Naomi, "Why would we have a problem? If you want to suck your way to the top that's up to you."

Feeling her mouth drop open slightly at the implication Stephanie heard herself ask a question that she already knew the answer to, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Girl you show up here after Triple H is telling everyone you're 'the next big thing in the divas division' and then a couple of weeks later you're suddenly the General Manager. How many blow jobs did that cost you? You must have been at it for a while."

Stephanie felt her blood boiling, "How dare you? I didn't do anything of the sort. I was given this opportunity, I didn't ask for it. There's nothing going on between me and Paul."

Cameron was looking past Stephanie as she said, "So it's 'Paul' is it? Well try telling me why 'Paul' has already looked at you twice since he walked in?"

Involuntarily Stephanie's head whipped around in the direction that Cameron was looking as she said, "What?" Both of the divas laughed at her and Naomi said, "Point proven. Go away Stephanie, go talk to 'Paul' why don't you?"

* * *

><p>Paul had walked away from his hotel room unsure if he should feel pleased or guilty. Pleased that he had gotten away from Trish's accusation about Stephanie and made a good job of acting angry with her or guilty that she was right. He was beginning to spend way too much time thinking about Stephanie again. Maybe this idea of pushing her so hard so that he could get close to her and get to know her was a bad idea? Should he have just left her in NXT and tried to forget about her? He told himself that no, that would not have been possible. He had been stunned by Stephanie's beauty the first time he had set eyes on her and even now as he walked towards the elevator images of her ran through his head. Both images from his memory and his imagination, images of what she looked like in that ring gear and what she might look like without it. He shook his head, this obsession was getting out of control.<p>

A minute later he walked out of the elevator and into the lobby and it was time to decide where to go to cool off after the argument. Go out to a club or something or stay in the hotel and have a quiet drink in the bar? After a moment of indecision he decided that he would have a drink in the bar and then go back up to the room and make peace with Trish. He had no intention of letting this obsession with Stephanie cost him his marriage, it was time to stop thinking about her and make things right with his wife.

As he walked towards the bar he reprimanded himself for being too obvious about it. Clearly he had been as Trish had already questioned him about it. He had to get Stephanie out of his head somehow. This new plan failed immediately as he walked into the bar the first thing he saw as if his eyes were drawn to her by some kind of unexplainable magnetism was that Stephanie was in the bar, standing next to a table talking to two other divas. She was wearing tight jeans and that ass...

He managed to force himself to look away from her and walk to the bar and order a beer. He sat on a stool as he waited for the bartender to fix his drink and repeatedly told himself not to turn around and look at Stephanie again. After thirty seconds he succumbed to the inevitable and turned around for another look. The lust burned inside him again and he thought that fucking Stephanie McMahon was not just something that he wanted desperately to do, it was almost something that he needed to do.

Tearing his eyes away from her was one of the toughest things he could remember doing. He squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could and rubbed his face hard with his right hand as he thought that maybe he should get some help. He could not go on thinking about Stephanie like that, especially when she clearly felt nothing for him. His beer was delivered and he took his first sip and savoured it but at that moment his heart stopped as he felt a presence next to him, smelled a familiar sweet perfume and heard a familiar voice, "Hey Paul. Mind if I sit down?"


	8. Chapter 8

As long as there are people there will be addictions. Addictions to food, drugs, liquor, gambling, work, sports, even to arts, dreams and religions. Paul Levesque had an addiction and his was an addiction to a dream. His dream was fucking Stephanie McMahon. In truth he had been thinking of nothing else for weeks. The desire to do so consumed his every thought and action, both voluntary and involuntary.

He looked at her now as she accepted his invite to sit on the stool next to his in the bar in the hotel and he was totally lost on her. He literally ached to explore every inch of her. Actually that was just him lying to himself. One day he would explore every inch of her but what he ached to do right now was fuck her as hard as could, it was that simple. He wanted to hammer her and hammer her hard. His balls began aching again as he thought about it, so much so that he thought they might burst and even worse was the fact that he couldn't do it because she was his employee and she had no interest in him. It was by far the most frustrating situation he had ever been in throughout his entire life. There was also the fact that he was married to Trish but he did not really consider that right now.

Stephanie McMahon had become an addiction, an obsession and a prize that he could not claim. Also she was talking to him and he wasn't listening. He was staring at her as she sat side on to him drinking from her glass. What was that drink that she had? Obviously something with coke. A lot more interesting was the light blue top that she wore, it provided a nice view of her large breasts from where Paul was sitting. Another two things that he would have to explore in detail. The sight of her and the smell of her were becoming more powerful than a drug to him, way more intoxicating. He could still smell her perfume quite clearly. His chest was hurting now. Was this girl actually going to give him a heart attack just by sitting next to him? Everything about her was perfection. Her beautiful eyes, her stunning smile, her gorgeous long brown hair, not to mention that ass or those incredible long slender legs. She was a goddess among mortals.

Stephanie turned to look at her boss as she wondered why he had not answered her question and it was at that moment that her heart stopped. Stephanie had not had many sexual experiences in her life, certainly less than she would have liked ant twenty two years of age but even so there was no mistaking what she saw in the brown eyes of the man she desired, her boss, the man she owed her career to, the husband of her idol. This was what it had all been about, Paul's eyes were filled with lust. Her heart raced as she realised that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. It was all there in his eyes. This was why she had been pushed so hard and so quickly. This was why she had been given this storyline. In a way it hurt as she had naively thought that it was all due to her abilities but right now she did not care about that in the least. She looked into the brown eyes filled with lust and tried to convey the same message with her own as she looked back into them and delicately bit her bottom lip. If only we would make a move.

She found everything about him so incredibly hot. His long blonde hair, his enormously muscular, powerful body and especially the commanding way he carried himself. Also the expensive clothes the wore like this light grey shirt that he had on right now. Even with the top two buttons undone as he was relaxing for the evening her looked so smart and it went with the authoritative way he spoke to people. He clearly loved to be in charge and Stephanie was fine with that, he could be in charge of her all night long. If only he would make the first move. She raised the straw of her drink to her mouth and waited.

At the moment that Stephanie bit her lip Paul expected to have a heart attack any second with the rush that he felt. What the fuck was that? The way Stephanie had just looked at him, the way she had bitten her lip and now the way she was making sure she maintained eye contact with him as she drank her drink through the straw, even the way she drank through the straw seemed to be suggestive. Could it be? Was she trying to tell him that she wanted him? He could so easily be imagining it such was his obsession with her. If he was imagining it why hadn't she questioned the fact that he had spent this long staring at her without speaking? Instead she was just looking back at him. Waiting. Studying. Wanting. Lusting. He could see it now. He had never felt so alive as he did at that moment. Every one of his senses was operating at it's fullest potential.

Silently pleading for him to do or say something Stephanie set her almost finished drink on the bar without breaking eye contact with the man she desired. Inside she was screaming for him to make a move, to kiss her but she could not be the first one to put herself out there. What if she was reading him so terribly wrong somehow? She could not really see how that was possible at this point but if this was going to happen he would be the one to instigate it.

Paul realised as he continued to gaze into those beautiful green eyes that Stephanie was not going to say or do anything to take this further. If he wanted it he was going to have to put himself out there and take it. He had no problem with that. He had waited so long, looked at her so many times, fantasized about her, even thought about her while he was making love to his wife. Now all he had to do was speak. He was certainly not usually a nervous person, far from it but it felt as though his heart was hammering against his ribs as he said, "Stephanie..."

Stephanie felt herself almost quiver at the way he spoke her name. She simply could not hold herself back any longer and she asked quietly, seductively, while still maintaining eye contact the whole time, "You want to fuck me don't you Paul?"

Paul assured her without hesitation, "I've wanted to fuck you for months."

Stephanie stood and held out a hand. She would lead him back to her room and he could fuck her all he wanted.

As they hurried hand in hand from the bar they were too wrapped up in thoughts of each other and what was about to happen to offer consideration to where they were and who might see them. Two pairs of eyes were watching from across the room. Naomi said with a thin smile, "I told you Cam, that bitch is fucking her way to the top. How about that?"

Cameron replied with a much larger smile, "Someone really should do something about that. I've got an idea."

Noami's eyes widened a little, "You're going to tell Trish?"

The grin on Cameron's face turned more devilish, "Yeah, and I'm making a complaint about him to Molinaro."

Naomi muttered under her breath, "Oh shit." It was unclear which one of the two she thought would be worse for Paul.

* * *

><p>The elevator finally arrived in the lobby after what seemed to Paul like a wait of twenty years or more. He finally, unbelievably had the chance to fuck Stephanie McMahon and there he had been stuck in the lobby waiting for some piece of crap elevator. It did not matter any more, he was in the elevator now. He looked at Stephanie as she followed him inside and after seeing her nervous smile as the doors closed he could not keep himself off her any longer. Before she knew what was happening Stephanie was taken by surprise and almost slammed up against the elevator doors and Paul was kissing her. His kissing was vigorous, almost furious in it's passion and intensity. It was like nothing she had experienced before and it took her breath away as she tried to at least attempt to return it, clasping her hands around the back of his neck as she did so.<p>

If this was what the elevator ride was like what would happen when they got to the room? She felt herself getting turned on quickly at the prospect and she felt the urge to be filled up by Paul starting to overwhelm and consume her. To judge by what she felt pressing into the bottom of her stomach the level of arousal was mutual to say the very least. Paul's gruff voice assured her between frantic kisses, "You feel that huh? You're having all of that, as hard as I can fucking give it to you."

Paul planted his mouth over her own again so Stephanie was only able to moan back into his in pleasure at the image he had put into her mind as the elevator continued to rise as their tongues furiously did battle. The elevator was not the only thing continuing to rise and the elevator was not the one that Stephanie was interested in. She was not a stupid woman and she was under no illusions. This was not going to be a romantic encounter, she was going to be fucked hard by Paul Levesque and then he was going to leave her room and go back to his wife. That was enough for Stephanie. It would have to be... for now.


	9. Chapter 9

"Wait until we get to my room," Stephanie attempted to order Paul as she even more futilely tried to shove the huge man away from her a little. All it would take was for the elevator doors that she was pinned against to open and the wrong person to be standing there and the whole WWE would know that she was screwing the boss. It might be something that she badly wanted to do but it was not something that she wanted to advertise. She had of course not realised that it was already too late for that thanks to their lack of discretion in the bar.

That was a problem for the future, the problem for now was that Paul seemed insistent not to wait so Stephanie shoved his chest again and said, "Jesus, just wait. We'll get caught." She imagined that some women might have felt unnerved by his forcefulness but Stephanie found it a turn on. She wondered what she had actually done to drive him this wild as tonight was the first time she had given him any hint of the feelings she had for him.

Thankfully Paul had managed to separate himself from her temporarily as the elevator doors slid open on the fifth floor, her floor. The coast was clear in any event as the hallway was empty. Stephanie stepped out of the elevator and she could feel Paul's presence right behind her. She decided to play with him a little and walked a little slower than she usually would. He obviously picked up on the fact that she could go faster as he urged, "Come on, what room is it?"

With a grin that was unseen by the man behind her Stephanie reached the door of her room but as she attempted to swipe her key card in the lock she accidentally dropped it onto the dark blue carpeted floor of the hallway. Behind her Paul grunted in frustration and gruffly said, "Come on."

As he watched Stephanie bend to pick up the key card Paul was presented with a perfect shot of that amazing, perfectly shaped, obviously firm ass in her tight jeans right in front of him.

A gasp of surprise escaped Stephanie as she felt Paul grinding his erection into her ass and heard him ask, "What about in the ass Stephanie, huh?"

Instantly surprised and nervous as she had never been fucked in the ass before Stephanie stood, holding the key card in her right hand as she said nervously, "I don't know Paul... I've never done that before."

Clearly this was not time for discussion or experimentation as Paul simply urged again, "Get the damn door open then."

Turning back to the door Stephanie swiped the card in the lock and it did not work. Paul informed her impatiently, "I'm going to fuck you out here in a second." Stephanie giggled as she finally managed to unlock the door at the same time as she said, "Easy tiger."

She was almost shoved into the room as he assured her, "Nothing easy is going to happen here. I already told you I'm going to fuck you harder than you've ever even thought about being fucked before." He had already almost torn his pants open as Stephanie kicked the door closed. Any lingering hopes of some romance or at least some foreplay quickly vanished as she began to remove her own jeans. Suddenly she was in the air with Paul's hands supporting her under her ass and she was almost slammed into the hotel room door. She wrapped her arms and legs around him for support and she knew what was coming now.

Luckily the encounter in the bar and even more so the one in the elevator had gotten her more than wet enough to receive him as that was exactly what she was about to do. Paul grunted loudly as he forced himself into her and then he was on her again with those forceful, frantic kisses. She had originally thought that they were passionate kisses but now she realised there was no passion at all in this encounter. This was simply both of them getting some release from the desire that they had for each other, the desire that had been eating them both alive.

Paul knew that after how long he had been waiting for this it was not going to be an impressive performance. There was no way he was going to last long enough for Stephanie to come before he did, that was for sure, not that he gave a shit about that. He was kissing Stephanie McMahon, he could taste her, he could feel her tongue fighting against his own. Even better he was fucking Stephanie McMahon. Right now, up against her own hotel room door, he was doing it and nothing would change that. He would never have to wonder again what it would be like, wonder if he would ever have her. There would be another time for a more romantic, more impressive performance of that there was not doubt. Many more times in fact.

With her back repeatedly banging against the hotel room door and Paul driving himself into her seemingly as hard as he could Stephanie could not help the first quiet scream that escaped her or the subsequent ones which grew louder with each of his almost unrealistically powerful thrusts. He felt amazing inside of her, like nothing she had experienced before. He seemed to completely fill her, It was not even over yet and already she wanted more of this. Paul's deep, panted breaths also filled the room as he somehow managed to pound into Stephanie even harder, not even thinking that the sound of her back crashing against the door in rhythm with his thrusts could probably be heard throughout the length of the hallway outside as could her increasingly loud screams.

Stephanie had never been drilled by a man like this before but still she forced herself to stop screaming so that she could challenge Paul between gasped breaths and frantic kisses as his long blonde hair fell over her face, "I thought I was going to get it hard?"

The huge man let out a growl, the exact reaction she had hoped for and slammed himself into her even harder and she felt him begin to shake as he continued to do so and then before she could reach the peak of her own pleasure she felt him explode into her with something approaching a cry of relief. Stephanie gasped out a few breaths as his thrusts decreased in their intensity. She realised that this was going to be it, she wasn't going to be allowed to come. He was going to bail now, it was all over so quickly.

Paul had pulled out of her and she was lowered back to her feet. Clumsily brushing her messy hair behind her she asked quietly, sadly, "That's it isn't it? You're going to leave?"

The look in his eyes was almost the look he would give to a defeated wrestler in the ring. He had conquered her and now he was finished, it was finished, "I have to leave. I'm married Stephanie you know that. My wife is on the floor above this one."

Stephanie summoned the courage to say, "Fuck your wife, I want more."

Paul pulled her roughly to him and kissed her again. For a long moment she returned it and she was back in heaven but then as quickly as he had started it he ended it again by pulling away and saying, "There will be more I promise... but away from Trish. I'll fuck you all night long the first chance we get. I promise."

Suddenly dreading the prospect of him leaving to go back to his wife and being left in her room alone Stephanie wrapped her arms around him as if she could force him to stay in her room and pleaded, "Don't promise me if you don't mean it. I want more Paul, you drive me wild."

Gruffly Paul assured her, "I do mean it. You drive me wild too, I think that much is obvious. The first chance we get away from Trish you won't be able to keep me off you, trust me. I have to go."

With a final kiss and a sad, "Ok," from Stephanie, Paul turned and left the room. The door clicked closed behind him and Stephanie was left staring at it, aching for it to open again and for him to return but it was not going to happen. She was a confused mess of emotions but most of all she just wanted more of Paul Levesque. Why did that bitch Trish have to be in the picture? As she headed into the bathroom to take a shower she told herself that she had some nerve thinking of Trish as a bitch. Trish was married to the man and she was the one that had just fucked him. She was the bitch, obviously. The realisation that she did not care was what surprised her the most. All she wanted was Paul and not just for some quick throwaway fuck against a hotel room door either. She wanted him, really wanted him.

A smirk adorned Paul's face as he pushed the button to summon the elevator. He had fucked Stephanie McMahon and left her begging for more. This was perfect, two incredibly hot women screaming for his affection and he had more than enough to share around. Time to take the elevator up one floor, return to his room, take a shower and then give the other one a fucking good pounding too. Having already released some of his considerable load into Stephanie would make his performance for Trish a lot better. He definitely had more than enough left for her that was for sure. This was certainly a lifestyle he could get used to. He entered the elevator and used the mirror on one side of it to fix his shirt and replace his hair into a tidy ponytail. No one would ever know.

If only he'd had some indication of the shit storm that awaited him the next day that smirk would definitely not have been on his face, nor would the expectation of continuing this kind of lifestyle been in his mind. Paul was in for more than one big surprise, his days of treating women like objects were already over. He just did not know it yet.


	10. Chapter 10

"I can't believe you just came out and told her like that," Naomi said to Cameron as they both watched Trish storming across the lobby of the hotel towards the elevators.

Cameron shrugged, "You figure there's a nice way to tell someone that their husband is screwing some slut? I think she suspected anyway, she didn't exactly question me in much detail did she?"

Both women walked into the restaurant to get breakfast. After they had made coffee for themselves and picked out the food that they wanted they sat at a table to eat. After a couple of minutes of silence as they ate Naomi asked eagerly, "Are you still calling Molinaro? Please tell me you are?"

Cameron sipped her coffee, "I don't suppose you want to? I told Trish..."

"Not a chance. It was your idea, you can do it," Naomi said with a laugh.

Cameron looked at her phone and saw that it was almost nine am. In her experience the best thing to do when you were not looking forward to doing something was to just do it as quickly as possible and get it behind you. The longer you left it the worse it became. With a look of determination she said, "Fine. If I'm doing it I'm doing it now. She'll be in before nine I bet."

Naomi made no verbal response but her smile was reflected in her eyes. Paul and Stephanie were going to get what was coming to them now, that was for sure.

* * *

><p>Laura Molinaro did not like to start they day in a bad mood but today it was unavoidable. She had walked into her office ten minutes before nine am as she did every morning and her secretary was not at her desk where she should have been. Even worse there was no cup of strong black coffee ready and waiting on her own desk. The useless woman was late again, for the second time this month. What was complicated about the instruction to be in the office no later than eight thirty and to have coffee ready and waiting fifteen minutes later? This had led to Paul's secretary being barked at to make coffee and barking at people this early in the morning was not something that Laura liked to do, it just started the day off on the wrong tone. Even worse was the fact that it had been undeserved which meant that an apology was owed and apologising to people was something she liked to do even less.<p>

Now as she checked her watch she saw that it was almost nine and the secretary was still not in. This was going to be the second warning, there would not be a third. At least the coffee had arrived a few minutes earlier and Laura sipped it and savoured it's strength as she checked out a popular news website on her computer. Coffee and getting up to date on the news was the only civilised way to start a day.

Then the phone began to ring.

Laura closed her eyes and her jaw tightened a little as she drew in a breath and held it in a final attempt to keep her temper under control. After all there was no one to explode at anyway, where was her fucking secretary? Now she was going to have to answer this call herself and in any case who would be calling her office before nine am and how had they been connected? For what possible reason? Snatching up the phone Laura made no attempt to hide her irritation, "Laura Molinaro."

The voice sounded nervous, as well it should, "Uh... good morning, this is Cameron, I'm here with Naomi. Uh... we work... we're in the divas division."

Laura closed her eyes again and curled her toes up to desperately fight her rising anger and started to absently play with her expensive fountain pen in her free hand, one of several obvious tells to those who knew her that signified that she was approaching meltdown. Hiding her emotions and especially controlling her temper were definitely not strengths of character that she was blessed with, "I know who you are," she almost hissed.

The voice continued to ramble nervously, "Uh... right. I hope I'm not interrupting?"

"You are," Laura clarified with the incredible irritation still obvious in her voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Uh... I have a complaint to make... please?"

Laura wondered if this was this for real. Surely she was on camera and this was all being done just to push her buttons? A call and an interruption at this time of the morning for something as trivial as this? Even worse it was not even directed to the correct person. Since when were complaints made directly to the Chairwoman of the company? This on top of everything else that had already happened this morning and people really wondered why she had a short fuse?

Considering herself to have the patience of a saint and feeling proud of herself for the achievement she took a second before exploding into a furious rant and managed to summon what little self control she was capable of at times of intense irritation such as this. Her husband called it hotheadedness but it was easy for him to say, not having to deal with this kind of idiocy every day. When she spoke she even came close to not barking, "Talk to Paul Levesque, he's talent relations. You know that as well as..."

Being interrupted in full flow was not something that happened to Laura very often but right now it did, "My complaint is about Paul Levesque."

This generated a reaction. Laura sat up straighter in her chair and took a second to compose herself and calmly place the pen back on the desk as her rage subsided. She ran a hand through her jet black hair and almost with too much interest now she said kindly with a strange little smile on her face, "I'm listening."

* * *

><p>Paul had enjoyed his long, hot shower and had just finished dressing himself and fixing his hair. He smiled at himself in the mirror, he looked great in his light blue shirt and black pants. In fact he looked immaculate. Now it was time to go join Trish for breakfast. She had tried to yell through the bathroom door for him to hurry but he had yelled back that she could go alone if she was so eager. Wife or not no woman was going to order him around. He would take as long as he wanted in the shower. He certainly needed a long relaxing shower after his exertions of the previous night. This situation with Trish and Stephanie might end up becoming a lot of work.<p>

Now that he was happy with his appearance Paul picked up his phone from the table and turned towards the door to leave the room. That was when things started to happen quickly. Firstly he heard someone opening the door of the room, then the door flew open and he saw his wife storming in right towards him with a look of boiling rage on her bright red face. Before he could ask what was wrong with her she was hitting him and screaming at him that he was a bastard and a piece of shit.

As he fended off her blows he demanded, "What the fuck? What's wrong with you? What..."

Trish screamed, "Don't fucking what me you bastard! You and Stephanie fucking McMahon! You fucked her didn't you? Admit it!"

Paul quickly feigned confusion, "What are you talking about?" His mind was racing. How the hell did she know? Surely Stephanie hadn't told her? The bitch couldn't be that stupid surely? What other explanation could there be? More importantly how could he get away with it now that the secret was out? Fuck, that was a tough one.

Trish was still screaming, "Last night you bastard! You went and fucked that slut and then you came back in here and fucked me too! Didn't you? Admit it!"

"Who has been feeding you this bullshit?" Paul demanded angrily figuring that acting angry had worked last time and he had to try something.

Trish rained some more blows down on him, "Don't bother lying you son of a bitch! I already suspected you and last night you were seen! You and Stephanie together! You were seen you bastard!"

Shoving Trish away Paul yelled, "Stop fucking hitting me you bitch..."

Trish's face had gone bright red and tears streamed down her cheeks now as she screamed even louder, "Bitch?! I'm a bitch?! I've loved you since the first time we met!" Her sobs took over and her voice trailed off as she said, "I thought we would be together forever and you've fucking cheated on me. Haven't you?"

It was obvious to Paul that the game was up. Either Stephanie had told Trish or her story was true and someone really had seen them, either way he was fucked. There was no reason not to admit it now so he simply said, "Yes. I made a mistake. It meant nothing..."

"Fuck you Paul. I want a divorce you bastard. You came back and fucked me right after you fucked her. I'm going to be sick. Never come near me again, ever," Trish sobbed as she raced out of the door.

At that exact moment Paul's phone started to ring. He was still holding it in his hand so he angrily looked at who was calling and it stopped him in his tracks as he headed for the door to go after Trish. Laura Molinaro, and she was calling from her cell phone and at this time of the morning too. What the hell was this now? He decided to take the call and give Trish a few minutes to cool off. He took a deep breath to compose himself and was impressed with the result as he answered, "Good morning Laura."

Anger was clear in the voice on the other end of the call and it was a lot more intimidating than Trish's as he heard a growled order, "Get your ass back to the office, and I do mean now. And bring Trish with you, at least one of you is getting fired today for sure."

"What?" Paul asked in near shock but he had wasted his breath, the call had already been ended. Paul closed his eyes for a few seconds as his head began to spin. What the hell had just happened in the last two minutes? Trish had said that she wanted a divorce and now he had to go find her and tell her that they had to hurry back to the office to get chewed out for something and he didn't even know what it was. Whatever it was Laura was fuming about it. Fucking perfect.

And who was Laura trying to kid anyway? 'One of you is getting fired'. Trying to intimidate him again, that's what this was about. He lied to himself that there was no way that was going to happen, the stupid bitch. It was obvious that Trish would be the one to get fired, that had been obvious the previous night in the office. Paul sauntered out of the hotel room and the arrogant smirk returned to his face as he decided that he didn't care if Trish had said she wanted a divorce, fuck her. She needed him more than he needed her. She would quickly come running back to him for help when Laura fired her ass a few hours from now.


	11. Chapter 11

Paul absolutely hated this. He hated the fact that he felt nervous as he sat in Laura's outer office waiting to be called in. A woman making him nervous, what the hell was that about? It was beyond ridiculous but it was happening anyway. He glanced across at Trish, thinking as he did so that she was immature. She had actually chosen to sit in the furthest seat possible from him. At least she still looked upset, her face was flushed and her hair was not as perfectly presented as her dark green dress was. It really should have been for a meeting like this, especially for someone in the precarious position Trish was in. He shook his head, her attitude would quickly change after this meeting and her inevitable firing. He was surprised that she had not tried to mend fences with him already, she must know by now that she was about to lose her job and she would need his help to get it back.

He waited with the arrogant smirk fixed on his face as it seemed to be almost permanently of late. After another couple of minutes Laura's secretary spoke in an irritating nasal voice, "Trish you can go through now." Paul raised his eyebrows slightly. Why was Trish going in alone? Laura obviously wanted her out of the way quickly, that must be it. He watched his wife as she walked past him towards the door to the office and noticed that she did not even glance at him. It was clear that his marriage was over, she hated him. Oh well, let her go and lose her job then. Paul had his job, both of his jobs. He was COO and he was the highest paid wrestler on the roster, Trish could go fuck herself. There was always Stephanie and she was hotter than Trish anyway. Trish entered the office and Paul heard Laura say calmly before the door swung closed, "Sit down Trish, let's have a chat."

Sitting there waiting for Trish to emerge from the office Paul found himself hoping that she came out of the office in tears and threw some abuse at him. Yeah, you have a chat with her Laura and fire her, he thought smugly. The minutes dragged by and Paul fidgeted uncomfortably. What was taking so long in there? Just then the office door opened and Trish stormed out. She charged past Paul without even allowing her eyes to drift to him and within seconds she was gone from the office. He had tried to read her expression from the brief glimpse that he's had of it but it had not really revealed much. She had not been crying as he had expected, which was a shame.

Now it was time to let this hot headed bitch rant at him for a few minutes about lying to her about the storyline and then he could get out of here and do something productive at last. That was the only thing this could possibly be about and the only reason Laura could possibly have to call him into her office. Still she was keeping him waiting but it was not going to work, he was not going to let it get to him, that was obviously what she wanted. He was brought from his thoughts by the secretary's nasal voice, "You can go through now."

As he stood and walked into the office Paul made sure that he had the arrogant smile on his face, that would show the bitch that she did not intimidate him, that needed to be made clear even if it was not true. Immediately upon walking through the door he realised that his effort had been wasted. Laura was standing looking out of the window, not even facing him. She was wearing a white blouse and black suit pants. Why did she only ever wear suits? She should wear a dress and flash those legs occasionally. That was what women were useful for, looking good not trying to act like they knew how to run a business. Laura was a wild one and he liked that, it was attractive for some unexplainable reason. It appeared that she was trying to work herself out of a rage right now, maybe she had gone wild at Trish? He had not heard any shouting but who knew how good the sound proofing was in here?

"Sit down," he was ordered. Okay, she was not working herself out of a rage, she was working herself into one, this much was apparent immediately. Paul obeyed the command and deliberately kept the smile on his face as Laura turned around. The little smile and the glint in her eyes did not make her attractive as she usually was, instead they put him immediately on edge but despite this he said arrogantly, "So you finally fired Trish huh?"

Laura walked slowly across the office towards him and as she spoke Paul noticed that her eyes gleamed, "Actually no I didn't."

What was that supposed to mean? Paul was confused until the realisation hit him mid way through his next sentence and his grin slowly faded from his face, "But you said one of us was... getting... fired..."

Laura had now reached her side of the desk and she leaned on it with both hands and the grin widened a little as Paul realised what that gleam in her eyes was as she looked down at him. She had prey in her sights and the prey was him, "That's right, I did."

"Wait a minute," Paul said defensively, "Me? Why me? What did I do?"

Paul was not sure what it would take for this woman to raise her voice as this did not even manage to accomplish it even though she launched into a tirade that he did not dare to interrupt, "Why you? I'll tell you why you. You're the worst example of a human being I've ever had the misfortune to meet, let alone employ. You're a liar, you're a cheat, yes that's right Trish told me exactly what you did last night and who with. I'm not actually going to have to get Stephanie McMahon in here and get it confirmed first hand am I? You manipulate people, you care about no one but yourself and you think my company is some kind of grooming ground for you to meet young women and trick them into bed. I don't know what reason my father had for making you COO but it's a mistake that I'm going to rectify right now. You're fired."

Taken aback by the suddenness of how quickly things had gone disastrously wrong for him Paul could only say, "Wait, let's talk about this. What do you mean I'm fired?"

Remaining in her standing position Laura sneered, "What do I mean? How many ways are there to mean you're fired? Try one of these if they make it easier. You are no longer the COO of my company. Your services are no longer required. Furthermore if I ever hear about you even looking at a woman that works for my company in an inappropriate way again I'll fire you from your onscreen contract too. Do you understand everything I've just said?"

Finally beginning to get over his shock, Paul now felt his anger boiling to the surface. Who the fuck did this bitch think she was to talk to him like that, like he was stupid? If he was going out he was not going to do it in silence, fuck that and fuck her. He leaned forward and said angrily as his ego took control of him, "I'll tell you what I don't understand, who the fuck you think you are? Huh? You're only standing there because your dad gave you this place and you stand there saying _my company. _You think you're something special? You're not, let me tell you that. You're a woman in a man's world." It felt better to get that off his chest. What confused him was that during his outburst Laura had calmly sat down and she had relaxed into her chair and she was smiling as she played with a fountain pen in her right hand. Did she actually enjoy someone standing up to her like that? Or had he just been very stupid and cost himself his wrestling career too? He had no idea. This fucking woman was infuriating and impossible to read.

When she spoke she almost sounded amused, "Allow me to give you a clue about something you patronising, sexist son of a bitch. I sit here because I own WWE and because I am Chairwoman and head of the board of directors. It doesn't concern you if my father used to own this place, what concerns you is that I own it now. What matters is that when I make a decision in this place it's final. You're no longer COO, you're no longer someone with any influence around here. What you are is a wrestler, in a locker room with a bunch of other wrestlers, who by the way all think you're an asshole. You're the one who is nothing special Paul and given that your soon to be ex wife is now on trial as Head of Creative for thirty days I don't like your prospects in that regard either do you? And one final warning, keep that _cazzone _of yours in your pants and away from my divas or I'll fire you from your onscreen contract as well. Now get out."

Paul had intended to leave without giving Laura any more mouth and pushing his luck but he had suddenly realised something as she repeated her threat to fire him from his onscreen contract and the arrogant smirk returned to his face, "You think I'm stupid don't you? Or that you intimidate me? Well you're wrong on both of those things and you have no grounds to fire me from my onscreen contract. I know it as well as you do. You've already fired me as COO so I can fuck Stephanie McMahon as often as I want and you can't do shit about it. If you fire me without a justifiable reason you have to pay me my contract in full, beside the fact that we both know I'm the best wrestler in WWE and you can't afford to lose me. Go on, do it. Don't just sit there making idle threats, fire me. Do it."

He had been incredibly satisfied to see that the bitch knew he was right about everything he had just said. The smile had disappeared from her face during his tirade and instead she now looked like he had just forced her to drink a cup of warm piss. The look on her face was great, priceless in fact. He didn't like the look in her eyes but fuck her, he may have lost his job as COO but he would get to walk out of her office leaving her with a nasty taste in her mouth and a bruised ego at least. He stood and sauntered towards the door with the smirk still on his face and he almost made it before Laura finally spoke and despite his satisfaction at putting her in her place the sheer coldness of her tone chilled him as she said quietly, "I will remind you of this moment _amico_, when the time comes. Then we'll see who's smiling."

Forcing himself to show no indication that he had heard this thinly disguised threat Paul opened the door and sauntered out of the office, scoring a final blow by deliberately not closing it behind him. That was the best that Laura could come up with? It was actually disappointing in a way to find out that she was just mouth, the parting threat she had made did not even mean anything. She was pathetic, she was just an egomaniac and nothing more.

It wasn't until he was in the elevator on his way to the lobby that the satisfaction of his victory at the end of the meeting began to wear off and the fact that he had lost his job as COO and his wife in the same morning came back to him. He had lost both of those things and for what? A cheap fuck in a hotel room with Stephanie McMahon. Sure she looked great, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, there was no doubt about that but was she worth that much to him? No way, she meant nothing to him and this was a disaster. It had finally hit him and it hit him hard.

When he emerged from the entrance of WWE headquarters a few minutes later he felt angry enough to hit someone. One throwaway fuck had caused this much damage to his life, how was that even fair? He turned on his cell phone and immediately a text message came through from Trish: _Don't bother coming home you bastard. I'll have your shit shipped to your parents_.

For a few seconds Paul stood outside of the entrance to the building shaking with anger at everyone but himself and everything around him seemed to start moving in slow motion as his blood boiled. Unable to keep himself under control he hurled his phone at the ground as hard as he could and was satisfied to see it smash into several pieces on the concrete. Making no attempt to pick up the pieces of either his phone or his life Paul set out to find a bar. It was time to get wrecked.

Ten floors above him Laura Molinaro watched him walk across the parking lot from her office window with a look of fury on her face. She was still seething, she had never been spoken to like that by an employee before, or by anyone else for that matter. No one had dared before. The son of a bitch would regret it, that was for sure. As she watched him getting into his car she told herself to calm down and that everyone had a weakness. No matter how long it took she would find one in Paul Levesque and when she did she would exploit it and she would remind him of this day as she had promised. There were worse things she could do than fire him that was for sure. Patience was what was required now and she was capable of being patient when she absolutely had to be.


	12. Chapter 12

After spending a few days at the bottom of a bottle Paul had finally decided to get himself sorted out and now as he arrived at the arena for Raw he was not feeling too bad considering everything that had happened in the past week. This was not to say that he wasn't angry because he certainly was.

He was angry with Trish, she had let him know via text message that she was filing for divorce and she was taking the house and everything else that she could possibly get from him. He had only been with Stephanie once and this was what she did? What about a second chance? What about trying to figure their problems out? The leaching bitch only wanted to take the house and the money, that was what this was about and she would get it too. He was realistic enough to admit that it was inevitable. Now he was going to have to buy somewhere else to live and he was earning half the amount he had been previously thanks to a bitch he was even angrier with than Trish.

He was even angrier with Laura Molinaro. She actually fired him for this one mistake. She could have given him a warning or a suspension, anything. She certainly did not have to instantly fire him. He hated that woman more than anyone else on the planet for doing that and what was worse was that he knew she was not going to leave it at that. He knew that he had made a mistake when he had given her a bunch of abuse and back chat. Everyone knew she was the kind of vindictive bitch who would remember something like that until she got the chance to get payback. Hell, she had told him at the time that she would do. He would keep his mouth shut around her now that was for sure. Also she had given Trish the job as Head of Creative. Why on Earth had she done that? He genuinely did not understand it. Laura knew as well as everyone else that Trish had no real talent for it and that she should be a trainer for the divas or something instead. The whole thing was ludicrous.

Both of the miserable bitches would be here in the arena tonight too. Hopefully he would not encounter Trish but he would have to encounter Laura as they were going to have to work a segment together in the ring. With a sarcastic laugh to himself as he walked into the arena he figured that making it believable for the cameras that they hated each other would not be hard to do. He would be out there with her in character complaining about losing his position of power when he had also lost it in reality. The smug bitch was going to love that, he knew that already and it made him so angry just imagine the little smile that he knew she would give him.

There was another woman who would be in the arena tonight and involved in that segment and he was not sure what would happen when he saw her. Where did he stand with Stephanie McMahon? He had originally thought that maybe she had been the one who told Trish about their encounter in the hotel room but then Laura had mentioned getting confirmation from Stephanie first hand so that did not really make sense. Someone else must have seen them. Paul now regretted the way he had treated Stephanie that night, he had fucked her, unloaded into her and then pulled out before she could even come herself. That was a serious dick move, as was telling her that he was going back to his wife. Stephanie could be justifiably angry with him when he saw her and she probably would be. What an utter disaster.

The fact that she was angry did not really concern him in itself, it wasn't as if she meant anything to him, he just wanted to fuck her some more. She was just so hot it was untrue. The next time she would get his best performance, that was for sure. He reached his locker room and was a little surprised that he had been given it. He no longer merited an office for obvious reasons and he had expected Molinaro to make him change in the main locker room with most of the other guys. Actually why hadn't she done that? Those kind of petty mind games seemed like just the kind of thing that she would go for. Putting the best wrestler in the company in with the nobodies was just her kind of small minded bullshit.

He had not been in the locker room long when there was a knock on the door. He had only had time to unpack his bag and take a quick drink. Who was this now? "Don't let it be Laura or Trish for god's sake," he mumbled to himself.

* * *

><p>Stephanie McMahon was miserable, there was no other word for it. She had been totally blanked by all of the other divas in the locker room as she changed into her suit, her attire for her role as General Manager. If the dirty looks she got from the other women were supposed to be hidden from her then they had been hidden badly. Everyone in the divas division hated her and for what? Jealousy that was obviously it. Paul Levesque liked her and they were jealous of it. The hottest guy on the roster had feelings for her, not any of them and they hated it.<p>

What Stephanie did not understand was why he had told Trish about what had happened between them. What a stupid thing to do. That must have been what happened because she had not said anything to anyone herself and now Trish was divorcing him, everyone in the locker room knew that. They also knew that he had lost his job as COO when Laura Molinaro found out about it. Firing him seemed way over the top to Stephanie and she had been given a reprimand herself by someone from talent relations. Why had Paul not just kept his mouth shut? She decided to go ask him. There was no need to feel nervous around him any more she thought with a smile, he wasn't her boss now.

Gladly leaving the locker room full of jealous bitches Stephanie headed for Paul's locker room. It would be nice to see a friendly face. It only took her a minute to find his locker room and she knocked on the door. As she waited for a reply she suddenly had a worrying thought. What if Paul blamed her for losing his marriage and his job?

As Paul walked over to open the door he eliminated Laura as a possibility for who it could be. That egomaniac would have him summoned to her office if she wanted to give him the good news again, not come knocking on his locker room door herself. Maybe it was someone summoning him to her office? By the same token what the hell would Trish come to him for? To throw abuse at him? He doubted it. His eyes widened as he opened the door and saw Stephanie McMahon standing there wearing a suit. It was a crappy suit but even so she looked incredible in it as she smiled and said, "How do I look?"

Standing aside so that Stephanie could enter the locker room Paul said honestly, "Amazing. You look amazing." He was already fighting the urge to fuck her again as she breezed past him and his nostrils filled with her perfume. As he closed the locker room door Stephanie turned to him and asked, "Uh... Paul? Why did you tell Trish about us?"

Paul's eyes narrowed in confusion. Was she for real? She actually thought he had fucked her and then gone back to his room and told Trish? Why the hell would he have done that? "Are you serious?" He asked incredulously.

Seeing the expression on his face and hearing the way he posed the question Stephanie realised that it was not Paul who had told Trish. Time to cover her own ass quickly in case he thought it was her, "Well if it wasn't you and it wasn't me then how did she find out?"

With a shake of the head Paul admitted, "I don't know. All we did was have a drink in the bar and then head up to your room."

As he was speaking it clicked into place in Stephanie's head, "Those bitches."

"What bitches?" Paul asked in confusion.

Angrily Stephanie said, "Naomi and Cameron. I was talking to them in the bar when you walked in. They accused me of uh... being with you to get this storyline. Then you walked in and I clean forgot they were there. They must have sat there watching us the whole time."

Paul knew that she was right. He remembered now seeing Stephanie talking to the two other women when he had walked into the bar. He too had forgotten about them being there. He had been too busy thinking with his dick that was why. They must have told Trish at breakfast the next morning. Then he made the next leap, one of them must have called Molinaro and made a complaint about him. How else would she have been on the phone ordering him back to the office that quickly. God damn it, those two had fucked him up good. Why were the women in this place all complete bitches? Apart from one at least. He shook his head in frustration, "You're right, it was them. God damn them. I lost my job and my marriage because of them. One fuck in a hotel room..."

No longer feeling the sense of nervousness around the man that she assumed had feelings for her Stephanie said slyly, "And it wasn't even a decent fuck. I didn't even come. You owe me."

She was a little taken aback by the angry tone of the response, "Let's get something straight. I owe you shit. You owe me. You're where you are now because of me and it cost me my marriage and my job. You owe me Stephanie. Having said that if it's a serious fucking you want name the time and the place."

It was Paul's turn to be taken aback as he saw a new Stephanie McMahon for the first time. The nervous, almost timid young woman was gone, even if only temporarily as she walked over to him and grabbed the front of his shirt in her right hand and pulled him towards her as she said in a commanding tone, "Right now, Triple H's locker room."

Who was he to argue with that?


	13. Chapter 13

"Let me lock the door first," Paul said and hurried over to do so. As he walked back towards Stephanie he added, "And none of that screaming you were doing the other night. We don't want the whole building to know."

"Yes sir," Stephanie said as she pulled Paul towards her again and began to kiss him. She was pulled tightly to him as he wrapped an arm around her and she felt his erection pushing into her through his pants. Was this guy permanently hard around her? It was quite flattering. She began to rub his firm shaft gently with two fingers and the thumb of her right hand over his pants and he moaned in satisfaction into her mouth as they continued to kiss.

Then there was a knock on the locker room door again.

Breaking away from Stephanie Paul growled, "For fuck's sake," then said to Stephanie, "Stand over there, you'll be behind the door when I open it."

With a smile Stephanie teased, "You're ashamed of me?"

"I think we're in enough shit already don't you? Just stand over there," Paul ordered gruffly. Stephanie giggled softly as she did as he said. Paul opened the door and saw a guy in an black suit and grey shirt but no tie who looked to be in his late twenties. He had short well kept brown hair and a couple of days of stubble and he had a smile on his face. He looked like one of those people who was always smiling. Paul had never seen him before so he demanded, "What? I'm busy in here."

The smile remained on the man's face as he gestured down the hallway and said, "Laura wants to see you in her office." Paul felt his anger rising at the mention of his boss and it meant that he did not consider the use of her first name. All he could think was that now the fucking infuriating woman had the nobodies she employed for security coming to his locker room and ordering him around? And what was the timing all about? Losing his temper Paul said angrily, "Tell the miserable self-important bitch I'll be there when I'm good and ready and not fucking before."

Paul knew that no one from Laura's security detail would dare pass on that message as he would likely become collateral damage so he was about to smile until the man laughed and said, "I'll pass that on to my wife."

Paul's mouth dropped open slightly and he said in near shock, "Uh... your wife?"

The man said cheerfully, "Yeah you know, rings and vows get exchanged, both say I do, you may kiss the bride, all that jazz. It's called marriage, surely you've heard of it?"

The sarcasm went unnoticed as Paul could not help asking, "How do you live with her?"

With another louder laugh the man said, "Dude, it's an act she puts on for you people. One day you'll see her outside of this place and you'll see what I mean." After a moment of reflection he appeared to regret divulging the information, "I tell you what, you forget I told you that and I'll forget to pass on your message. Deal?"

Paul tried to figure out if the guy was serious and failed as he could not imagine another side to Laura, certainly not a pleasant one. He mumbled, "Yeah. Deal," then he closed the door and said to Stephanie, "We'll pick this up in the hotel. We'll have the whole night to ourselves."

Before he realised what was happening Stephanie had pressed herself up against him again and she had his still firm length in her fingers through his pants again as she purred, "Good. I want this Paul. I want it all night long. Now run along before you get in trouble."

Paul felt lust raging inside of him but all he could do right now was say, "Oh you'll get it, don't worry about that." He then had to hurry out of his locker room and go speak to Laura. He was pissed off to discover that all she wanted to do was make slight change to the script for their segment. Her husband was no where to be seen but obviously had not passed on the message as no roasting was forthcoming. She had cock blocked him for this stupid nonsense. How did one woman manage to be so irritating? He was tempted to actually tell her that he had been about to fuck Stephanie just to see how much it pissed her off but he had already made a mistake like that once so he kept his mouth shut. If anything Laura was polite, almost friendly to him but if she thought she was fooling him with that she was mistaken.

Ordinarily performing on Raw was the highlight of the week for Paul but tonight he just wanted to get back to the hotel. Stephanie was driving him crazy again, how could a woman be so attractive? He had to admit that he was also impressed with how she performed in the ring, she was a very good talker. It was a shame that it was inevitable that Trish would find a way to end this storyline and then bury Stephanie but Paul did not really care. He did not need the storyline as an excuse to get close to her any more anyway so it made no difference to him.

After the show was over and he had returned to his hotel and changed into jeans and a t-shirt Paul realised that he had a problem. He did not have Stephanie's phone number and he had forgotten to ask her for her room number. How was he supposed to go and fuck her if he did not know where she was? He would have to find out her room number, that was the only option. He headed down to the lobby and decided to fall back on what he was best at, bullshit.

He approached the reception desk and spoke the smartly dressed young man who asked if he could help, "Yeah, I'm with WWE. As I'm sure you know we have many rooms here tonight. I need to speak with one of my employees urgently but her cell phone is off. Can you give me the room number of Stephanie McMahon please?"

"I'm sorry sir, I can't do that. I can call the room for you and you can use my phone?"

Paul did not have to fake his irritation, "This is a private matter, I'm not going to stand in a hotel lobby discussing it on a phone. Just give me the room number please."

"Sorry sir, as I said I can't do that."

After pointedly looking at the man's gold name badge which was fixed to his jacket Paul said, "Look Jason, I'm trying to be nice about this but let me explain something to you. My boss, the owner of WWE, wishes me to give a message to Stephanie urgently. Now my boss is not a very nice woman if I'm honest. If I call her and say that I can't do as she's asked because some guy called Jason on the reception desk is a stickler for rules I know exactly what she's going to do. She's going to call the owner of your chain of hotels, who I happen to know she knows personally and she will read him the riot act and tell him that WWE won't be using his hotels again and I doubt that's going to mean anything good for you. How about I give you twenty bucks and you give me the room number and we avoid the unpleasantness for everyone huh?"

Before he got a response Paul knew he was going to get the info he required from the expression on the guy's face. He still made a show of considering it but he said, "The surname again?"

"McMahon," Paul clarified helpfully.

Jason clicked his mouse a few times and then said, "Okay... Three twenty five. That's the third floor."

Paul gave a sarcastic smile as he turned to walk away, "Yeah I got that. Thanks Jason."

As he walked away Paul heard the guy protest behind him, "Hey, twenty bucks you said."

Without stopping or turning around Paul informed him, "I lied to your ass."

He could not help laughing to himself as he rode the elevator up to the third floor. The dumb son of a bitch gave out the info before he had the money and still expected to get it. How could someone be that stupid?

Arriving on the third floor he afforded himself another smile of amusement. This would be a surprise for Stephanie that was for sure. He followed the little signs on the walls that indicated which room numbers could be found where and eventually he was outside of Stephanie's room. With yet another grin he knocked on the door and said, "Room service."

It did not take long for the door to open. Stephanie had obviously been lounging in her room, she wore a loose red t-shirt and some black shorts that revealed those amazing legs. She also wore a mischievous smile as she said, "I haven't ordered anything."

She moved aside to let him in and he said, "Are you sure? Think back very carefully."

Stephanie giggled, "How did you even know this was my room? I know I forgot to tell you."

"You ask too many questions," Paul said gruffly as he slammed the door closed and grabbed Stephanie and began to kiss her, already getting hard quickly as he tasted her and thought about the prospect of fucking her again.

As before in the elevator Paul's kissing was forceful, hungry almost. Stephanie loved how crazy she drove him. Between the frantic kisses she was told, "You're fucking beautiful you know that?"

Forcing herself away from him Stephanie easily removed the loose fitting t-shirt she was wearing which revealed that she was not wearing a bra. Paul saw her look at him with innocent puppy dog eyes and she asked, "How about now?"

Paul responded on instinct and breathed, "Oh Jesus." Her breasts were simply amazing. He could not keep himself off her any longer. He had to fuck her and fuck her now. His balls were aching with lust again.

A second before it happened Stephanie saw in his eyes that Paul was going to come at her and fuck her as hard as he could and she was going to have no say in the matter. She was going to be dominated and fucked and she was going to love it.

That was exactly what happened. She was grabbed roughly by the huge man as he said, "You asked for a decent fuck. Get over here." She was roughly tossed onto the edge of the bed and Paul hurriedly tore her shorts off and then her panties.

Stephanie expected him to come straight at her and fuck her as he had previously but quickly he had two of his fingers inside of her and his touch felt incredible. He was a lot more delicate with her than she had expected him to be capable of and soon her body was on fire. In what felt like no time at all she was moaning loudly as he worked his magic, gently brushing around her clit in circular motions with his thumb as his fingers moved in and out of her. She continued to moan loudly as she began to approach climax but when Paul realised this he began to tease her and she played along with it which did a lot more for him than it did her.

What Paul liked most was to be in charge of a woman and as he sensed Stephanie approaching the peak of her pleasure he stopped and demanded, "You want to come? Huh?"

Stephanie guessed the kind of thing he wanted to hear and she breathlessly pleaded, "Yes daddy, please."

Paul felt himself ready to explode as this was repeated several times before he eventually let Stephanie come with a loud moan. She actually called him daddy without being prompted. What a woman, a perfect woman if such a thing existed.

Feeling as though he had done more than enough for her it was time for his own satisfaction and knowing she was more than ready for him Paul opened his jeans and roughly pulled his boxers down. Stephanie again made his balls ache as she presented herself before him. She spread her legs wide and arched her back slightly and purred, "Do it then. As hard as you can. Come on daddy, fuck me."

Wanting to be in total control of her Paul leaned over her and pinned her hands above her head with one of his own before burying himself in her, the pleasantness of her warmth only heightening his pleasure.

Pleasingly for Stephanie Paul was less frantic in his love making this time. He was huge and he was rock hard but his motions were not too rough to begin with. He obviously intended to build up to it a little this time.

His thrusts began to increase in intensity and he began to grunt in time with them. As he began to pound her harder Stephanie began to scream again as she had the week before. She was unable not to as his huge length filled her completely as he drilled her as hard as he could, keeping her pinned down with one hand and enjoying the feel of one of her large breasts in the other. Feeling his incredible length filling her had her quivering under him and she let out another loud scream as she climaxed again. This was a signal to Paul who immediately stopped holding himself back and exploded into her with an angry growl and a gasped out, "Fucking have that... you bitch... fucking have it."

* * *

><p>Those were the words that were running through Stephanie's head as she got out of bed the next morning and headed to take a shower. Paul obviously liked to be in charge to say the least. The way he said things like that made it perfectly clear. She had certainly had it, three times in all including once in the ass. It had been her first time but Paul had been careful, almost delicate with her, encouraging her to relax every muscle and enjoy it. She had tried her best to relax despite the incredible pain she had been anticipating but it was not as bad as she had feared. After the initial pain the pleasure had been incredible. She was not sure why he felt the need to call her a bitch but if it floated his boat she was okay with it.<p>

He might have left her room in the night without waking her but the experience had been wonderful. She wondered when he would mention making a relationship of this. He was obviously crazy about her but he had forgotten to give her his phone number.

* * *

><p>As Stephanie was showering Paul was already downstairs in the restaurant eating breakfast and he had a satisfied smile on his face. Spending a night fucking Stephanie McMahon had been amazing as predicted, he could definitely get used to it. He had left before she awoke just to make sure there were no mixed signals. This was just sex, nothing else would come of it. He had made that mistake with that vulture Trish. It actually suited him that Stephanie did not have his number, there was no need to worry about her until next Monday when he came to her room after Raw for some more.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

The following week went exactly as Paul hoped that it would. He quickly found himself an expensive condo to buy not too far from where he had been living previously. He had already faced the reality of losing the house to that leach Trish when the divorce went through. A one bedroom condo was all he was going to need for the foreseeable future, he was done with relationships. The place was already empty too so he could move in the following week.

When Monday night came around again he successfully managed to avoid seeing Trish and restricted his contact with Laura to the minimum possible. She was polite and professional with him again as she had been the week before but he still intended to speak to her as little as possible as he knew that she was only waiting for an opportunity to do something in retaliation for that day in her office. She may have thought she was hiding it but her eyes gave her away. Those beautiful green eyes were the most striking feature about her and you could always tell a lot by looking into them.

He had found himself briefly thinking about how hot Laura was despite how much he hated her but then he had quickly dismissed it as she was not his type. He liked a woman he could be in control of and he doubted anyone was capable of controlling that crazy hot headed egomaniac. The fact that she was married or whether she would have any interest in him did not factor into his thought process. He figured that if he showed an interest in a woman the feeling being mutual was a guarantee.

After the show he had gone back to the hotel and eaten dinner alone then headed up to Stephanie's room where they had spent the night having hot sex again. He considered that the single life really was what he preferred as he again left Stephanie's room during the night as she slept. As long as she did not start wanting this to be anything more than incredible sex things would be perfect.

The next morning as Stephanie dressed following her shower she felt confused. Paul had come to her for sex again but he still had not even given her his number. Surely he should have by now? She had expected him to ask her to dinner or something too, they had not even had a first date as yet. Was she really going to have to be the one to ask him? Maybe that was what he wanted? It seemed strange as he seemed to like being the one in charge. Deciding that she had nothing to lose she intended to talk to him about it if she saw him when she went downstairs for breakfast.

Paul had almost finished his food when he saw Stephanie enter the restaurant and begin assembling her own meal. Silently praying for her not to come in his direction he was immediately disappointed. He realised that she was not getting the message even though he thought he had been plain enough with it. How to get rid of her without being so rude that she would not want sex again? It was going to be a delicate balancing act. Why did women have to be so damned awkward all of the time?

Stephanie gave Paul one of her best smiles as she sat down opposite him. She did not bother to ask if she could sit, it did not enter her head that he might not want her to. She said, "Hey, last night was amazing."

Draining his already nearly empty cup of coffee Paul agreed, "It was."

Starting work on her toast Stephanie said, "Uh... I still don't have your number Paul."

"No you don't." Could she really be this naïve?

Apparently she could as still not picking up on his signals she said, "You should give it to me, we can arrange a date. A meal or something?"

Paul rolled his eyes and clarified for her with a little hostility, "I don't know what you think this is but it's not a relationship. This is sex and nothing more, it's not going to be anything more. I'm not interested in anything more."

Stephanie's face looked surprised and sad as she said quietly, "Oh."

Realising that he had been more forceful than he had intended Paul cursed himself silently before saying, "Look I just don't want anything serious. I'll see you next week or something." With that he stood and walked away, leaving Stephanie at the table looking a little dumbfounded. She knew that Paul felt something for her, she had seen it in his eyes. Why was he trying to deny it? She decided it must be because of how Trish had treated him, he was afraid to get close to someone again. It was a little strange as after all he had been the one to cheat but it was the only explanation that made sense to Stephanie. She would just have to keep working on him, they would get close to each other in the end. He could not deny his feelings forever.

* * *

><p>Paul forgot about Stephanie during the week as he was too busy moving into his condo and buying furniture and other things for it. The sooner the divorce went through the better for him. At least that dragon Trish would be out of his life for good. He saw no point in contesting the divorce as he had been stupid enough to admit to Trish that he had fucked Stephanie. That had been really stupid, if he had just denied it she probably could not have proved anything. It was done now though so he decided to grant the little vulture what she wanted and move on with his life. Getting angry, stressed or miserable about it would not change anything and anyhow he did not want Trish to have the satisfaction. Despite the fact that he had lost one of his jobs and his wife he considered that life could be worse. He was now a single man and he could fuck who he liked when he liked plus he was still the best and highest paid wrestler in the industry. Unknown to him was that things were indeed going to get a lot worse very soon.<p>

Triple H was booked in a triple threat match the next Monday night on Raw by Stephanie's character against John Cena and Daniel Bryan with the unspoken idea being that the two other men would both have the chance to beat the hell out of him in retaliation for the way he had treated him during his reign in charge. It was during this match that things went wrong for Paul.

It was something he had done thousands of times in his career and it was one of the most routine things to do in a wrestling match. He knocked John Cena through the ropes to the floor outside the ring and as he turned around Daniel Bryan game him a clothesline which sent him over the top rope. It was as this happened and Paul landed on his feet on the outside as he always did and had done countless times before that he felt an incredible stabbing pain in his right knee and the leg buckled underneath him. He instinctively clutched at it and screamed as the pain hit him and he crumpled to the floor next to the ring apron at the side of the ring.

Referee Charles Robinson knew that this was not part of the match and that Paul must have hurt himself. He scrambled out of the ring and crouched down next to Paul who gasped out, "Knee's fucked. Tell them to get each other back in the ring."

The next thing Paul knew the ringside doctor, Chris Amann had replaced Charles Robinson, looking down at him and asking what had happened. The pain was incredible, making him want to scream again but he managed to grit his teeth and moan in agony instead. He knew he was in serious trouble and that he had sustained a bad knee injury.

"Must have landed funny, knee's gone," Paul said through the pain. He could hear the two other men wrestling back in the ring so he knew that Robinson had communicated the problem to them and the match would be completed without him. It was already obvious to him that he could not continue. With pain this bad he knew he would not be able to put weight on the leg. He might not have been the doctor of the two but he already guessed what had happened as Chris made him lie on his back and moved the knee gently. The pain caused Paul to scream again as he did so. He managed to say, "It's a ligament isn't it?"

"Most likely," Chris confirmed, "Hopefully only a sprain but could be a tear, the knee doesn't feel too stable. You're going to have to go on a stretcher." Paul saw him make the dreaded X signal with his arms that every wrestler dreaded seeing. It was the signal that confirmed there was a genuine and serious injury and would call more medical personnel to ringside.

The pain was so intense that it was now making Paul feel sick but even so he insisted, "No stretcher, help me to walk out."

Chris said forcefully, "This isn't time for pride H, it could be a ligament tear or even multiple tears and if it is it could be career threatening. I'm sorry to tell you that but you need to know how serious this is and you need to go on the stretcher."

Paul's eyes widened in horror as he listened. He knew a knee ligament injury could be bad but this bad? Even so he had no intention of leaving the arena on a stretcher, especially if it was for the final time. He insisted again, "No. I'm walking out. Do whatever you want in the back but I'm walking out."

More personnel arrived a minute later and by this time the pain was getting even worse. This was the first serious injury of his career and he had never felt pain like it as he lay groaning on the protective matting covering the concrete. Injury was an inevitability in this business, everyone on the roster knew that when they signed up but surely the first bad injury he suffered could not end his career? He could not be that unlucky, could he?

Paul made sure to lie still as the pain continued to assault him while Chris informed the other personnel about what the suspected injury was and that Paul was insisting on walking out of the arena. The match was still continuing in the ring but as he was very carefully lifted to a standing position Paul saw that he was now the centre of attention for most of the crowd. His character may have been the most hated on the roster but the fans recognised a genuine injury when they saw one and as Paul hobbled away with an arm around Chris on one side and the other around another large man on the other side for support, keeping his right leg clear of the floor the fans began to applaud and get to their feet.

Tears came to Paul's eyes. If anyone had asked he would have claimed that it was purely the incredible pain that caused them but the reality was that the show of respect he was receiving had a significant amount to do with it. It seemed to take an age to get up the ramp and into the backstage area but eventually he was lying in the doctors room. He was given something for the pain and Chris told him that the first thing that needed to be done was to get ice on the knee to reduce the swelling that had already started in preparation for him to be taken to the local hospital for a scan which would determine the extent of the injury. Things were blurring a little for Paul, the pain was all he could focus on.

With pain assaulting him in waves as Chris worked on him the last thing that Paul needed was what happened next. He heard the door open and then Laura Molinaro's voice, "What is it? Is it bad?" He could not see her as the door was directly behind the top of his head as he lay on the bed which made it impossible for him to look at her, not that he wanted to. In any case the question had been directed at Chris who answered as he continued working, "It's a knee ligament injury, hopefully a sprain but could be a tear or even multiple tears if we're really unlucky."

Laura's simple response was to demand, "How long?" Paul was not really surprised that she had not bothered to say anything to him, she was not the kind of person who pretended to care when she did not. Instead she apparently intended to discuss him as if he was not there.

"Impossible to tell until we get a scan," Chris said.

Clearly getting angry, which never seemed to take much with her Laura barked, "I don't pay you to tell me nothing. Speculate."

The presence of this woman and her attitude were adding to Paul's pain and he was only just able to resist the temptation to yell at her to fuck off. Instead he tried to focus on sucking up the pain and keeping his mouth shut.

Chris did as ordered, "As I said we need a scan but even if it's only a sprain it's still a serious injury. Two months minimum to get back in the ring. If it's one or more tears we could be talking eight, nine months, maybe even career threatening."

For the first time ever Paul heard Laura raise her voice. Apparently the thought of losing TV ratings and money hand over fist were enough to get her there and she yelled, increasing in volume with each sentence, "I can't lose him for two fucking months! And you're talking about nine?! Or career ending?!"

"What do you want me to say?" Chris asked helplessly as he looked up at the irate woman. Despite everything Paul felt a hint of satisfaction at Laura's words. He remembered back to that day in her office when he had told her that she could not afford to lose him and she had just said exactly the same thing to Chris. He hoped that she had also just had the same recollection.

Both men were relieved as Laura said quietly, somehow managing to make an instruction sound almost like a threat, "I want more info on this yesterday," and slammed the door behind her as she left the room.

With closed eyes and clenched teeth Paul muttered, "I fucking hate that woman."

Chris carefully phrased his agreement, "You said that not me H. I'm nearly done here, we can get you to the hospital soon. Judging by your pain I'd say a sprain is most likely, a tear would hurt more than this and although the knee doesn't feel too stable I've seen a lot worse."

Paul was not surprised that Chris had kept this information from Laura, it did not take a genius to figure out what would happen if he gave her an optimistic diagnosis and was then found to be incorrect. What Paul had a hard time believing was that it could possibly hurt more than this. The pain was making him sweat now.

Ten minutes later with the ice secured around his knee and changed back into his street clothes Paul was given crutches and sent with a member of the medical team to an ambulance for the short trip to the hospital. Chris wished him good luck and said that he would be there after the show had finished. He had to be at ringside for the rest of the show in case anyone else suffered an injury. It was when Paul was roughly half way to the parking garage and the waiting ambulance that he saw Stephanie McMahon approaching. He mumbled under his breath, "Not now, please."


	15. Chapter 15

The results of the MRI scan that Paul had been given seemed to be taking forever to arrive. He did not know how long it was supposed to take but as he lay alone in a room on a hospital bed with his right leg elevated and throbbing painfully he told himself that surely he should have heard something by now. The scan itself had taken a lot longer than he had expected. He did not know exactly how long but it must have been well over half an hour. He was mildly encouraged that the pain was a lot less overwhelming than it had been as he lay on the floor at ringside a few hours earlier. At least it felt like a few hours, it was all a bit of a blur in his head.

Thankfully he had managed to largely avoid Stephanie McMahon fussing around him and acting concerned by getting into the ambulance as quickly as he could whilst fending off her questions. Would the woman not just take a hint? She was his fuck doll and nothing more and she needed to accept it. Certainly she was not his girlfriend for god's sake.

He closed his eyes and tried and failed to get some rest. The pain may have reduced but he still could not sleep with it. Suddenly he heard Chris Amann's familiar voice, "H? You awake buddy?"

Paul had expected someone from the hospital to come to him with the test results but apparently Chris had dealt with them directly and had the news himself. Paul opened his eyes and grunted, "Yeah, what's the verdict?"

Sitting down in the chair next to the bed Chris said calmly, "Not the best case but nothing like the worst either. You have a grade two sprain with a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament."

Quickly Paul asked, "Partial tear? How long is recovery from something like this?"

"To resume training probably something like six to eight weeks, back in the ring in maybe two and a half months, more likely three."

Paul sighed and shook his head sadly, "Three fucking months. I didn't even do anything wrong. Damn it."

Sympathetically Chris said, "Knees can be like that. You can twist one badly and get away with it or you can just catch one wrong as you did and this is what happens. At least there is no complete tear, that would have meant surgery and three times as long on the shelf."

"Thanks Chris. So what now?"

"We'll have someone come to your place when you're ready to start physiotherapy. Until then all you can do is rest it. For the first two days you need to keep it elevated and ice it four times a day. You _must_ rest it, if you don't the recovery will take a lot longer."

Paul assured him, "I'll do as I'm told don't worry. Thanks again."

Chris smiled, "You're welcome. I'm going to head off now. Uh... there's a woman outside waiting to see you."

Unable to see who it was as the blinds at the window were closed Paul said, "Not Molinaro?"

Chris laughed, "You're joking right? I bet she's halfway home by now. I've got to go call her now, joy of joys. Stephanie McMahon is out there."

Paul sighed, "Oh god."

With a slap on Paul's shoulder as he stood Chris said, "Give the girl a break. I wish I had someone that hot wanting to play nurse for me. I'd sign up for a knee sprain right now."

"I just don't want it, the hassle I mean. Women in general, they're just bad news."

Still grinning Chris said, "It's your life but I think you're mad. Shall I send her away for you?"

Paul shook his head in resignation, "No, send her in. I'll have to spell it out to her myself."

"Go easy on her huh? She seems like a nice girl." With that Chris walked out of the room. Thirty seconds later Stephanie walked in dressed in jeans and a black coat. She had a worried look on her face but Paul still found her beautiful. She said full of concern, "Oh God. Is it as bad as it looks?"

She sat down next to Paul without asking permission as he said, "Stephanie I don't mean to be critical but you need to get better at picking up on people's signals. I don't want you fussing around me like you're my girlfriend or some shit. Could you please just leave me alone?"

Stephanie looked a little hurt and confused as she said, "This is about Trish isn't it? You're afraid to..."

Forcefully Paul ordered, "Just take the hint! Go away."

Figuring that Paul was in a lot of pain and not thinking clearly Stephanie hurriedly did as he asked and left the room. She was worried about him. How would he manage on his own with an injury like this? She knew he was not living with Trish any more, everyone knew that. As she walked out of the hospital she decided that she was determined to make him face up to the feelings that he had for her and she was also determined that he was not going to go through this recovery process alone. She would be there for him and she would help him. The only problem was that she did not have his address or his phone number. Time to get creative.

She briefly considered that maybe she was becoming a stalker but she thought that this was impossible as firstly they had had sex multiple times and secondly she had seen in Paul's eyes that he had feelings for her. She had seen it for sure.

* * *

><p>Thursday afternoon was as boring as the previous two days had been for Paul. He was at home lying on the couch watching daytime TV. He wore shorts and his right knee was heavily bandaged. Lying here was all he could do all day as the injury needed to be rested completely. Chris could not have been clearer on that. At least the pain was bearable. Not pleasant but bearable.<p>

As he idly flicked through the channels on the TV he wondered how people managed to get shows this crap commissioned for TV. People actually paid them money to make this garbage? This was when the doorbell rang. He was not expecting anyone so he assumed it was some salesman or similar bullshit that he had no interest in and ignored it. After a minute whoever it was tried again, pressing the doorbell twice in quick succession.

With a growl of frustration Paul awkwardly stood and used his crutches to make his way to the door. As he opened it his eyes widened in surprise and he asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Stephanie McMahon stood on his doorstep with a smile on her face, "Don't sound too pleased to see me will you? How's the knee?"

"How did you even know where I live? And how did you get here?"

Still smiling Stephanie said, "I'm not saying how I found out and I only live a half hour away."

Paul sighed, "Your family live near... forget it, of course they do. Just my luck."

"I don't live with my family but yes they do live close by. Are you going to let me in?"

Reluctantly Paul said, "You're not going to go away until I do are you?"

"No."

Without saying anything else Paul turned and walked slowly back into the open plan condo leaving Stephanie to enter and close the door. As she followed him in she said, "You didn't answer me, how's the knee?"

Settling back onto the couch Paul said irritably, "How do you think it is? It hurts."

The next thing he heard from near the kitchen area was, "Look at this place. Have you even cleaned it since you moved in?"

Instinctively Paul was on the defensive as he looked at her and demanded, "What's wrong with it?"

Stephanie ran a finger along the breakfast bar between the kitchen and the living area and it came away dusty. She said with a raised eyebrow, "Seriously?"

Paul looked back to the TV without responding. Now where was she going? She was in the kitchen area. She was opening his cupboards and his refrigerator. Was she for real? Next he heard, "Do you eat the dust too? You have no food."

Rubbing a frustrated hand over his face Paul said, "If I want my mother around here I'll call her."

Stephanie had walked back over to him and she demanded, "Give me money."

The irritation returned to his voice, "I'm not giving you money. What are you talking about?"

"You are giving me money and tomorrow I'm going to get you groceries and cleaning supplies and I'm going to clean this shit hole up for you."

This was the first time Paul had heard Stephanie swear outside of sex and it helped to make him cave in, "Fine. You want to do my shopping that's fine. You want to clean my condo that's fine too but it's not going to change anything and neither is stalking me. We are not going to be a couple, not now, not ever. Okay?"

Stephanie said sweetly, "Okay. Money."

"My wallet is on the breakfast bar."

Stephanie walked over and emptied it of cash and teased, "I could run away with this now and you couldn't catch me."

Paul said, "Honestly I wish you would. I'd consider the price to be cheap."

This brought a giggle from Stephanie and she said, "You're mean. Do you want a coffee or something?"

"I think I'm out," Paul mumbled, realising that he really did need someone to do some grocery shopping for him.

Stephanie laughed, "I'll get out of here and leave you to... whatever that garbage is that you're watching. I'll see you tomorrow. Keep that knee rested."

With that she left and as the door closed behind her Paul could not help a hint of a smile. The girl was persistent that was for sure and in a way she amused him. If nothing else he was getting his shopping and cleaning done for free and that could not be a bad thing.

Outside the condo Stephanie got into her beat up Ford and drove away with a smile on her face. She had heard it in Paul's voice as he had made his joke about her taking the money and running. He was warming up to her and his true feelings were coming through. Deep down he felt the same way about her that she did about him. It might be a longer process than she had first thought but she was prepared to put the time into winning him over. It would happen eventually, she was certain of that. She had the perfect opportunity to work on him as he was not going anywhere for the next few weeks.

* * *

><p>AN: Okay guys this almost clears me out of pre written updates. Hopefully I feel in the mood to write next week or the next update for this story could be all from me until after the holidays. We'll see how it goes :)


	16. Chapter 16

When the doorbell rang Friday afternoon Paul knew who it was going to be before he opened the door. Stephanie had showed up with his groceries. He made his way awkwardly to the door and sure enough as he opened it Stephanie stood there with a smile on her face, surrounded by bags of groceries and cleaning supplies and she said brightly, "Hey." There were so many bags that she must have made several trips to her car and back to his condo with them before ringing the doorbell. All Paul said was, "I can't help you with any of that."

As he made his way back into the condo Stephanie brought the first few bags inside and said, "I know. How's the knee?"

"Painful," Paul said as he lay back on the couch, "I hope you brought me change?"

"No. I spent all of it," Stephanie cheerfully informed him as she walked back in with the second lot of bags.

Paul exclaimed, "All of it? How do you even know what food I want?"

Making her way back outside Stephanie chirped, "I don't but I figured if you're hungry you'll eat it."

Trying desperately to keep an amused smile from his face Paul said, "I suppose I can't talk you into going away instead of spending all afternoon here cleaning the place?"

Making a final trip into the kitchen area with shopping bags after slamming the front door closed Stephanie asked, "Someone offers to clean your condo for free and you complain about it?"

"No _you _do it and I complain."

As she began unloading the groceries into the cupboards and into the refrigerator Stephanie smiled. It amused her that Paul continued to say things like this and pretend that either of them believed he wasn't interested in her. She laughed, "Right, I fought my way through a bunch of other hot women that were begging to do your cleaning on my way in here."

Paul was in a difficult spot. He wanted to give Stephanie a break and he genuinely did appreciate her help but he did not want to give her encouragement that something might happen between them. He decided to lie on the couch, watch TV and say nothing. Predictably this did not last long as thirty seconds later Stephanie asked, "Have you eaten anything? I can make a sandwich or something?"

"I've eaten. I ordered a pizza in earlier."

Stephanie chastised him, "So you're unable to train and you start eating pizzas? Sounds like a good idea."

"Sorry mom."

The sound of the kettle boiling began to come from the kitchen, "I'm having a coffee. May I have the considerable honor of making one for you too?"

"I suppose so. One sugar but make it quite strong," Paul was unable to resist a smile this time and Stephanie saw it from the kitchen area. A few minutes later she walked over to Paul with two cups of coffee and a sandwich of some kind on a plate. As she handed a coffee to him he said, "I told you I already ate."

Stephanie smiled, "This is for me. You'll have to move over, how do you only have one couch to sit on?"

"It's only me that lives here, how many places to sit do I need? Wait, you take my money to buy food and then you come over here and start eating it all?"

"Just move over so I can sit down," Stephanie ordered firmly after deliberately ignoring his complaint. As Paul did as she said and she sat down and took a bite out of her sandwich Stephanie almost choked as she burst out laughing.

Genuinely confused at what she was laughing about Paul asked, "What?"

Still laughing Stephanie pointed at the TV, "You're watching Judge Judy? Oh my god!"

"There's nothing else on," Paul said defensively, hoping that his cheeks did not redden.

The laughter continued, "There's nothing on apart from Judge Judy? Don't you have a DVD player or something?"

Paul sipped his coffee in embarrassment, "Okay so I was watching Judge Judy. You caught me."

"Your secret is safe with me," Stephanie said before attacking her sandwich again. Paul could still see a smile of amusement on her face.

For the next ten minutes Paul resisted Stephanie's attempts at conversation as best he could as she ate her sandwich. His stubbornness and her obvious persistence were only increasing his determination not to allow her to get close to him. When she had finished the sandwich and the cup of coffee Stephanie stood and said, "Right, I'm going to clean this place from top to bottom and when I have you're going to keep it that way. You might have a bad knee but that's no excuse for living in a mess like this."

Paul sighed deliberately louder than was necessary to emphasise his next sentence, "If you insist on cleaning fine but stop the lecturing. You're giving me a headache."

Stephanie laughed and set about cleaning the condo. Paul lay and watched a news channel as she did so, still doing his best to keep the conversation to a minimum. Stephanie moaned about the state of his kitchen and asked how he could possibly cook food on a cooker this dirty. "I don't cook. That used to be Trish's job," was the answer.

"You're something else you know that? It's like you're fully grown but you're still a ten year old." Stephanie said, shaking her head. Paul ignored this comment and left her to it. As she cleaned the sink, the cooker, the refrigerator and then the cupboards Paul again resisted her attempts at conversation as best he could. Almost an hour later she was apparently done in the kitchen area. "I'm not doing your bathroom too as you've not been nice enough," she informed him as she dried her hands on a towel.

"Nice enough?" Paul asked quizzically.

"You do realise that I've spent half of my day running around for you and cleaning this hole for you and you've not even thanked me?" Stephanie pointed out as she walked out of the kitchen and back into the living area.

Feeling guilty almost despite himself Paul looked at her and said genuinely, "Thank you."

This produced a large smile from Stephanie as she said happily, "You're welcome. I can stop by tomorrow and see if you need anything?"

Paul clarified as much for his own benefit as hers, "I didn't ask for any of this Stephanie."

"I know, yet you keep letting me in. I'll see you tomorrow," Stephanie said sweetly and with that she walked out, leaving Paul with a smile on his face. He had to admit to himself that he had almost enjoyed having Stephanie around the place. As she was evidently going to ignore him saying no even if that was his answer he would have to leave her to keep coming around. There was no way he was going to let anything come of it or allow himself to develop feelings for her. After Trish he was done with relationships that was for sure and he was not going to change his mind.

Over the next two weeks the only people to visit Paul's condo were Stephanie and a physiotherapist as he had told his mother not to come in no uncertain terms. The last thing he needed was a lecture about treating Trish badly and ruining his own life by being stupid and everything else she would undoubtedly bore him with. The physiotherapist was a balding man in his fifties. Paul figured that he had Laura Molinaro to thank for that. She probably took pleasure in the fact that had been expecting some hot young woman to show up but instead he had this guy. Laura had not even bothered to call him at any point to check on his progress, not that this really surprised him. At least his knee was standing up to the work and his recovery was on track.

He had to admit to himself that he was now enjoying Stephanie's frequent presence in his condo. The girl seemed permanently happy to be around him no matter how rude or sarcastic he was to her. It was now becoming more like some kind of banter between them than a genuine attempt by Paul to get rid of her constant attention. He also had to admit to himself that if she decided to stop coming to see him he would miss her. She was breaking down his defences and soon this was going to have to be considered a relationship of some kind. He was beginning to have feelings for her, that was the truth of it despite how many times he had told himself not to allow that to happen.

The feelings between the two first began to come to the fore one Wednesday afternoon. Paul and Stephanie had eaten a lunch that she had made and Stephanie was now doing the dishes by hand. "Why can't you buy a dishwasher?" she complained.

Paul chirped from his familiar position lying on the couch, "Why would I? Looks like I've already got one."

Stephanie was halfway out of the kitchen area to go and hit him when the doorbell rang.

* * *

><p>Trish Levesque had been waiting for this day for some time. She picked up the large brown envelope from corner of her desk and then stood and put on her grey suit jacket. As she walked out of her office she had a smile on her face. Earlier that day she had persuaded someone in the personnel department to get her Paul's new address, although this was something that should definitely not be done, and now she was heading over there on her lunch break.<p>

Every time she thought of her cheating, lying, scumbag of a husband she felt her blood boiling. The way he had cheated on her with that slut McMahon and then came straight back to their hotel room and slept with her too had been disgusting enough to warrant a divorce but if anything the amount of planning he had put into getting the chance to fuck that little whore was even worse. He must have been thinking about it for months and all the time Trish had been oblivious to it.

Today was the day for Trish to get a small measure of satisfaction back from the cheating bastard. She was driving to his condo right now to serve him with divorce papers personally. She had absolutely insisted to her divorce attorney that she had to be the one to serve them as she wanted to see the look on his face.

As she arrived at the correct address Trish pulled her Audi Q7 in behind a beat up Ford that looked out of place for the area. As she got out and locked the car she looked at the place where her soon to be ex husband now lived. Sure it looked like an expensive place but it was nothing compared to the house that she was taking in the divorce. This caused a satisfied smile to appear on her face as she walked up to Paul's front door and pressed the button to ring the doorbell. This really would be a surprise for the bastard when he opened the door.


	17. Chapter 17

"You stay there. Let your dishwasher open the door," Stephanie pretended to grumble as she walked over to the door. Paul chirped back, "Yeah and hurry up about it."

"Asshole," Stephanie said jokingly and then opened the door.

Trish stood waiting for her cheating bastard husband to open the door. When it opened and she saw Stephanie she could not believe her eyes for a half second. She saw Stephanie's own eyes widen in surprise, "Trish..."

Paul's head snapped around at the mention of his wife's name and he was just in time to see the punch go in. Trish had seen red and lashed out, catching Stephanie just below the left eye. Stephanie had certainly not expected the punch and had not reacted to it at all. Stephanie may have been the bigger of the two but Trish was still a strong woman and her punch knocked Stephanie down and almost out. She lay on the floor with her head spinning and a ringing sound in her ears.

Instinctively Paul jumped up, ignoring the stab of pain from his knee as he did so and made it across to the door as quickly as he could, holding one of his crutches in his right hand. By the time he managed to get over there Trish was inside the condo and was bending over the dazed Stephanie who lay on her back on the floor, "Come on bitch! Get up!"

As Trish drew back her right hand to strike Stephanie again Paul yelled at her, raising the crutch in the air, "You hit her again I hit you! Fuck off out of here Trish! Now!"

Trish thought better of striking Stephanie again and instead hissed at Paul, her face red with anger, "You're actually living with this piece of trash now?"

Purely to spite Trish the reply was, "Yes I am, now fuck off. I'm not going to tell you again."

Stephanie groaned and began to sit up, covering the left side of her face with her left hand. Trish still held the brown envelope containing the divorce papers in her left hand and she hurled it at Paul who instinctively caught it as Trish spat, "There's the divorce papers you miserable son of a bitch. I hope you enjoy your time together."

With that Trish stormed out of the condo and slammed the door as hard as she could. Paul tossed the envelope onto the breakfast bar but it slid all the way across the polished surface and fell onto the kitchen floor. Meanwhile Stephanie moaned groggily, "She punched me."

"Yes she did. Get up, let me take a look at you," Paul was as surprised as Stephanie by the tenderness in his voice.

Uneasily Stephanie did as Paul said and got to to her feet. She removed her hand from her face and Paul saw that although she was not cut her eye was beginning to swell already. "Go sit down. Luckily I've got a lot of ice left from this stupid knee."

With her head still spinning as she walked unsteadily over to the couch Stephanie repeated, "She punched me."

A few moments later Paul limped over to her with an ice pack and sat next to Stephanie and pressed in onto her cheek carefully, "Hold that there. Your eye might swell shut. The bitch caught you with a good one."

Still shocked by what had happened Stephanie repeated for a third time, "She punched me."

"Yeah I know," Paul managed to make it not sound sarcastic.

"Why?"

This time Paul could not help himself, "That's not really hard to figure out Stephanie is it? If you're honest."

He regretted it as soon as he said it, then Stephanie said sadly, "Everything's a joke to you isn't it? Even me getting hurt is amusing to you."

"No. I'm sorry, I don't find this funny at all." Again the tenderness in his tone confirmed that he meant what he said.

Stephanie also saw in his eyes that he meant it and again she saw that he had feelings for her. Even if he was trying to deny it she could see it in his eyes. Naively she pushed much too hard and immediately leaned forward to kiss him.

Paul in turn saw in Stephanie's eyes that he had just given her much more encouragement than he had intended to and he pulled away, "What are you doing? I keep telling you this isn't going to happen. We're not in a relationship, we never..."

Finally after so many attempts and after spending so much time trying to get Paul to admit his feelings for her and also after getting a punch in the face from his wife this rejection was too much for Stephanie who felt tears filling her eyes as she angrily threw the ice at Paul and said angrily, "Just forget it then. Forget all of it."

She stood and grabbed her coat and Paul realised she was going to storm out, "Wait. Where are you going?"

"Away from you. Away from your crazy wife. Away from all of this. I'm done being rejected by you. If you want to hide your feelings that badly hide them up your ass," Stephanie was almost in tears as she hurried towards the door.

As the door slammed behind her Paul remained on the couch and angrily punched himself several times in the forehead, "Fucking idiot." He knew he could not move fast enough to catch up to Stephanie before she got in her car and drove away especially as his knee already hurt from hurrying over to Trish. Why did the stupid bitch have to show up? This was all her fault.

That was what he spent the next few minutes telling himself but then he shook his head. Who was he trying to kid? This whole mess was his own fault. Why had he been so desperate to convince himself not to get close to Stephanie? Yes it had started out as a purely physical thing, wanting to fuck the most beautiful woman he had ever seen but she was more than that to him now. She had been spending all of her free time with him, keeping him company, cooking for him, cleaning for him, running errands for him and all he could do was treat her like crap. He told himself that he was exactly what Stephanie had jokingly called him just before she opened the door to Trish. He was an asshole.

Now Stephanie had stormed out and she probably would not come back. They had exchanged phone numbers but he knew that even if he called her she would not answer. He hoped she would be okay driving home as he felt certain her eye would swell shut. He decided that he owed Stephanie an apology and he should be the one to make the effort for once. He did not knew her address but it would be easy enough to find out.

There was a guy in the personnel department, Mike Thomas, who would help people out with things like this for a few bucks on the side. Everyone knew about it apart from Laura Molinaro. Paul smiled, another reason that she wasn't as smart as she liked to think she was.

It was then that Paul realised something. He had never given his new address to Trish. That bastard Mike must have given it to her. At least this would save Paul from having to pay him anything for the info he needed. He took out his phone and was soon connected to the man, "Mike. I'll make this simple. I know you gave my new address to Trish so you've got two choices. Either you give me Stephanie McMahon's address or I go to Molinaro. I know which I prefer, how about you?"

After a brief pause the man's reply was simple, "You know me, always happy to help." A minute later Paul had Stephanie's address and he was calling for a cab as driving was out of the question with his knee injury. As he waited for the cab his knee injury was on his mind because the knee was starting to throb painfully again. He wondered if jumping up to deal with that idiot Trish had set his recovery back. It seemed likely as the pain was a lot more noticeable than it had been before. "Just perfect Trish, thanks a fucking lot," he moaned to himself.

* * *

><p>Forty five minutes later Paul climbed awkwardly out of the cab in front of the correct address. As he tried to sort his crutches out he scanned the building in front of him in an attempt to figure out which condo belonged to Stephanie. He saw a man with short dark hair knock on a door to a condo and then a few seconds later the door opened and he walked in. Paul was about to look away but then he saw Stephanie through the window of the same condo. This guy had just walked into Stephanie's condo and she was smiling at him. Now they were sharing a hug and a kiss on the cheek and then he could tell that the man was asking about Stephanie's swollen eye.<p>

Paul felt jealousy like almost never before in his life. This bastard was hugging Stephanie. She had another guy on the go. She was obviously spending her days with Paul and her nights with this asshole and when she had stormed out on Paul she had obviously called the prick and had him come over right away. Just when he had started to feel guilty for using Stephanie he now saw that she was in fact using him. Just when he had convinced himself to stop trying to suppress his feelings for her she had shown him that he actually meant nothing to her.

His first instinct was to walk over to the condo, knock on the door and knock this guy's lights out but he convinced himself not to. The cab driver had not pulled away yet, he was sitting there counting his change so Paul got back in and made the seemingly bizarre request to be taken straight back to where he had came from. He decided that if Stephanie had the nerve to show up at his place the next day he would tell her exactly what he thought of her.


	18. Chapter 18

A real mixture of emotions ran through Trish Levesque's head as she sat at her desk later that afternoon. Firstly satisfaction due to the fact that she had served her bastard husband with divorce papers and therefore soon would not be Trish Levesque any longer. Possibly even more satisfying was the fact that she had put Stephanie McMahon flat on her back with one punch and almost certainly given her a beauty of a black eye.

Unfortunately that was also where the problem lay. She had hit Stephanie McMahon and almost certainly given her a black eye which meant that sooner or later one thing was for sure; Laura Molinaro would find out. Trish dreaded to think what would happen then, she had visions of her career disappearing again just when she thought she had saved it with her impressive creative work over the last few weeks.

She decided that the best thing to do was tell the boss what she had done herself rather than wait for her to find out and then explode. Wanting to get the unpleasant task over with as soon as she could she decided to head for Laura's office right away. As she walked into the outer office she asked the secretary, "Is it possible to see Mrs. Molinaro for a few minutes? Is she free?"

"She's free but I don't know if you can have a few minutes. Wait a moment." The secretary picked up her phone and a few seconds later said, "I have Trish Levesque asking to see you..." Apparently she was interrupted as the next thing she said was, "Yes of course." After replacing the phone she addressed Trish, "You can go through."

Trish nodded and walked towards the door to Laura's office and could not help wondering if she would have a job when she came back out. Everyone knew that it depended a lot on the mood Laura was in rather than what was actually being discussed to dictate how a conversation went with her. Trish had certainly never met anyone who even came close to being as temperamental as Laura in her life. Maybe it was something to do with being half Italian? Or maybe that had nothing to do with it at all? Either way Trish pleaded for her boss to be in a good mood as she opened the door.

Laura had a smile on her face and greeted Trish with an almost warm, "Good afternoon." This appeared to be a good start so Trish smiled back and made sure to pronounce her name perfectly, "Good afternoon Laura. Uh... I have something I'd like to discuss please."_  
><em>

"Me too. Take a seat." As Trish sat down Laura continued as if she had not heard that Trish wanted to discuss something, "I was reading the latest ratings earlier. Despite Triple H being injured we have not had the drop off that I expected. You should be pleased with your work, I am."

It did not escape Trish that Laura had avoided using Paul's name or referring to him as her husband and she was thankful for that as well as the praise of her work, "Thank you, that means a lot. I'm putting one hundred and ten per cent into this trial..."

Laura cringed and she interrupted, "One hundred per cent. You cannot put one hundred and ten per cent into something, it's impossible. I hate it when people say that." Trish saw the first hint of irritation in her boss' eyes and her jaw had tightened slightly. How was it possible for one simple turn of phrase to annoy someone this much?

"Right, one hundred per cent. Sorry I..."

"What did you want to discuss?" This was another thing that always made Trish uneasy when speaking to Laura. She would throw a question at you before you had finished responding to the last thing she had said. There was only one thing to do and that was come straight out with it, "The thing is I uh... went to Paul's condo at lunch and uh... when I got there Stephanie McMahon opened the door and I... I uh... punched her in the face."

Trish had expected Laura to explode out of her chair and go right off the deep end but this had not happened. All she had done was pick up a silver fountain pen from her desk and start playing with it in her right hand as she stared impassively at Trish. After a few seconds which seemed like years to Trish she spoke slowly as if under the impression that she might have misheard, "You punched... Stephanie McMahon... in the face?"

"Yes." What else was there to say?

Laura stood and began pacing backwards and forwards between the windowed wall at the back of the office and her desk. Trish kept her mouth shut and waited with her heart racing for what would come next as she watched the tall woman pace the office with an unreadable expression on her face, still playing with the pen in her right hand. Several long moments passed like this before Laura spoke and again her voice was quiet, almost conversational as she continued to pace, "Over the years I've heard it all. I've been called hot headed, unstable, crazy, wild, stupid, a bitch, a nut job, hell I was even asked if I'm bipolar once but you know the truth of it? The truth of it is simple, I react on instinct. Something pisses me off I explode because that's my instinct. Someone says something stupid to me I snap at them because that's my instinct. I make business decisions on instinct. That's why I kept you on and fired your husband and so far I've been proved correct. My instincts don't let me down Trish."

"That's what everyone admires about you," Trish said in a lame attempt to suck up as she wished she had been in the room when whoever it was had asked Laura if she was bipolar. The suck up attempt failed as Laura snorted, "Please. Let me explain something to you Trish. I don't give a crap about you or anyone else who works for me but that's a good thing. It means you're judged purely on your performance. That's why I'm here, to make you people perform and you, like everyone else here, will perform or you will be fired and replaced by someone who will. I realise that this means everyone here dislikes me and I'm totally fine with that, I'm not here looking for friends."

Trish figured that while this was cold and harsh at least it was honest, one thing you could always rely on from Laura who continued, "What I'm trying to say is that in that situation I would have reacted on instinct and done exactly the same if not worse than you did. Therefore I'm going to have a written warning placed on your record which I know is your first and we'll say no more about it..."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Trish interrupted with relief.

Disregarding the interruption Laura repeated, "We'll say no more about it... on two conditions. One, tell me what you know about the relationship between Paul and Stephanie."

That was certainly no problem for Trish whose voice was full of disgust, "Paul openly told me that they're living together. She's obviously playing nurse to him."

"Is she now?" Trish saw the gleam in her boss' eyes and wondered what it meant for Paul and his slut, hoping that she was correct in suspecting that it was nothing good. Suddenly she was taken completely by surprise as Laura's pacing ended at her desk and she leant on it with both hands and loomed over Trish with her green eyes still gleaming before demanding coldly, "Two, tell me how you got Paul's new address."

Trish knew she was in trouble. She knew that obtaining someone's personal information the way she had was not something that should be done, maybe it was even illegal? Did Laura really know somehow that she had improperly gotten Paul's address from Mike Thomas in the personnel department? How could she? But what if she did? It had been made crystal clear previously that lying to Laura was a seriously bad idea and if you were caught doing it you were in seriously deep shit.

The hesitation from Trish was all the confirmation Laura needed on what she suspected but she still had to make Trish give her a name, "Let me help you out a little. You and Paul hate each other yet you wanted to see him in person therefore I'm guessing you wanted to serve him divorce papers, yet you needed his address. How am I doing so far? You obviously didn't get it from Paul so how about you fill in the blanks for me Trish? How about I give you five seconds to give me a name of who in my personnel department thinks they have the right to give out other people's personal information?"

As Laura's gleaming green eyes burned into her Trish felt her palms sweating. It was clear that someone was going to be fired for this and she no intention of it being her. After at most three seconds Trish caved, "Mike Thomas."

With a satisfied sneer Laura sat back down, "I've never heard of him but tomorrow morning I'm going to have him come in here and I'm going to fire him. You do anything like this again you'll join him. Clear?"

"Crystal," Trish confirmed before she was caught off guard again, "When you hit McMahon did you do it hard?"

"Nearly knocked the bitch out," Trish's tone conveyed the pride she felt in the punch she had delivered.

For the first time Trish sure a wide and genuinely happy smile on Laura's face, "Good. There's nothing I despise more than liars and cheats and between them those two have got that more than covered. You may go now."

Trish stood to leave and made it half way to the door but at that moment the door opened and a smartly dressed man with well kept short brown hair and a few days worth of stubble walked in. She had never seen him before but she noticed that he had walked into the office with a much more relaxed demeanour than she would have expected from someone walking in to see Laura and he had a smile on his face too. The reason soon became apparent as he said cheerfully, "Hey sweetheart."

"Hey yourself," she heard Laura say happily behind her.

Trish stopped in her tracks, wondering if she was still on the right planet. Sweetheart? Laura? Seriously? This guy must be her husband but even so the word seemed ludicrous when applied to Laura. She heard Laura address her, "Trish meet my husband and your new boss Daniel, he's taking over as COO from Monday." Trish's eyes widened in surprise. A new boss and not only that Laura's husband? What if he was like her? Two of them in the place, how would that possibly be bearable? Laura was still talking, "Dan meet Trish Levesque, she's Head of Creative. Well, she's on trial at the moment but we'll discuss that."

Dan smiled kindly at Trish as he held his hand out, "Good to meet you Trish."

"Very nice to meet you sir," Trish said with a smile of her own.

"Call me Dan and don't worry, I'm nothing like this one," Dan pretended to confide in her which left her in an awkward spot. How to respond to that? A swift change of subject seemed like the best option, "So you're in charge of talent relations now?"

"No, we're restructuring and hiring someone for that role specifically but department heads will be reporting to me," Dan explained.

"Looking forward to it," Trish smiled again. Reporting to anyone would be preferable to Laura and this guy seemed to be much warmer, almost friendly although they had only just been introduced.

"You can go now Trish," Laura urged.

Trish nodded to Laura and gave Dan a little smile as she hurried across the office and out of the door. She was relieved just be escaping with her job intact but now there was also the hope that he would hardly ever have to deal with Laura again. This was well worth a sigh of relief as she closed the door behind her.

As the door closed Laura stood as her husband walked towards her and asked, "Are you terrorising people again?"

"No. Terrorising is tomorrow's job," she smirked slyly.

"Do you really have to be so evil?" Dan teased as he walked around his wife's desk.

"You wouldn't have me any other way."

Dan pulled her to him. The two were the same height with Laura in her heels and Dan looked straight into her beautiful green eyes, "I'll have you any way I want."

"Not in here you won't."

"Want to bet?" With that he clamped his mouth over hers and the two began to kiss passionately as Laura wrapped her arms behind his neck and moaned with pleasure. She felt herself beginning to catch fire immediately as Dan let his tongue graze against her own but she pulled away for long enough to breathe, "The door isn't locked."

"I told your secretary no one was to come in, if they do I'm sure she knows you'll fire her." With that the kissing resumed. Laura felt a rush at the thought that her husband was actually going to fuck her in her office with her secretary only feet away on the other side of an unlocked door. Dan was now opening her blue blouse with one hand as they kissed. "So fucking sexy," he grunted as her chest was exposed.

"You're going to fuck me in my office?" Laura asked submissively.

"Damn right I am, call it a welcome gift. Get on the desk." She was lifted and placed on the edge of the end of the desk and they both had their suit pants and underwear down quickly. Dan knew his wife would be ready for him, she had never been one to require much foreplay and he knew she would be feeling the same rush that he was right now which was ideal for him as he was rock hard and ready to drill her.

Laura spread her legs and breathed, "Do it then." Dan grabbed her hips roughly with a hand either side and entered her with a quiet, satisfied moan. Laura took over the moaning duties as his thrusts began. As she moved with his rhythm and he began to fill her the moaning got louder until she was ordered gruffly, "Shut up, just fucking take it."

Take it was exactly what she did for the next few minutes. Dan saw the dark skin of her hands turn white at the knuckles as she gripped either edge of the desk as tightly as she could and began to moan again despite the need not to until she had to put her own fist into her mouth and bite down on it to stifle her scream of pleasure as she came. Feeling his wife quivering underneath him and seeing her desperate attempts to keep quiet Dan released himself into her with as quiet a grunt as he could manage and then decreased his thrusts slowly before pulling out of her. He took in laboured breaths and looked at his wife as she lay there breathing heavily with her eyes closed and her jet black hair messily spread over the surface of the desk with a satisfied smile on her face. "You look so sexy when you've just been thoroughly fucked," she was told cockily.

Suddenly remembering where she was Laura jumped up from the desk and fixed her clothes as her husband did the same. As she straightened her blouse she faked sternness, "Just remember I'm the boss." Suddenly her husband was nose to nose with her again with a smile on his face, "Only in the office."

Laura whispered sarcastically, "Oh please."

"You know it's true. I'm going to have a look round the place and meet some more of the guys then I'll head home."

"Okay."

With another passionate kiss lasting several moments and a smile he walked across the office towards the door.

"I love you," Laura purred.

Dan turned at the door with the smile still on his face, "I love you too, boss."

As she began an attempt to fix her hair and watched her husband leave Laura considered that convincing him to come work for WWE may have been one of the best decisions she had ever made. She was certainly loving it so far.


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning it became obvious to Paul that Stephanie was not going to show up. Clearly she was genuinely pissed off with him which whilst understandable due to the way he had been treating her still confused him. Why would she be pissed at him when she was also seeing someone else? It really did not make sense and something in the back of his mind was telling him that maybe he had misread what he had seen somehow but he could not imagine how. Stephanie had been hugging the guy and she had kissed him on the cheek. The only thing he could do was try to call her and hope she answered.

Picking up his phone he hesitated for a moment but then found Stephanie's name in his list of contacts and called her. As the ringing tone repeated itself multiple times in his ear he thought she was not going to answer but eventually she did although she did not sound pleased to speak to him, "Hello Paul."

Paul had not really planned out what he wanted to say so there was a pause before he went with, "Stephanie... about yesterday. I'm sorry okay?"

"Sorry for what?" she tested.

"Look I'm an asshole alright. Is that what you want to hear from me? I'm an asshole."

"You are an asshole. You didn't even try to call me or anything yesterday," Stephanie was clearly pissed at him, understandably so.

Paul wanted to find out who the guy was that he had seen with Stephanie but he did not want to talk about it over the phone in case it ended in an argument and she could easily hang up on him, "I didn't think you would answer, look can you come over so we can talk?"

"We are talking."

"Come on, you know what I mean. Please will you just come over?"

There was a pause on the other end of then phone and then a sigh as a decision was made, "Fine. Alright, I'll come over soon."

"Okay, thank you. See you soon," Paul was surprised by how relieved he sounded. What was this girl doing to him?

"Yeah." With that the call ended and Paul knew that he had at the very least a half hour to wait for Stephanie to arrive even if she left immediately which was hardly likely. He could now focus on the other problem he had on his mind. When he had woken that morning his knee had been swollen which confirmed that jumping up to deal with that stupid witch Trish had reinjured it. He awkwardly spent a few minutes wrapping some ice around it and settled down for another boring day on the couch in front of the TV. Scrolling through the many channels all showing nothing of interest he told himself that he really should buy himself an Xbox or something to pass the time. A few more weeks of this and he would be ready to attempt suicide.

Time dragged by and Paul began to wonder where Stephanie was and also he regretted the fact that he had not thought to ask about her eye. He felt sure that she would have picked up on the omission and it was another reason to consider him an asshole. As the memory of the sight of Trish punching Stephanie ran through his mind he began to feel angry but then it was followed by the memory of Trish hurling the envelope at him and saying something about divorce papers. What had he done with the envelope? Where was it? He remembered throwing it onto the breakfast bar but as he looked over he saw that it was not there.

Awkwardly he got up and used his crutches to made his way over there and growled in frustration, "Where the fuck is it?" Eventually he saw the envelope, it had fallen off the breakfast bar and resting against it on the kitchen floor. After making his way around into the kitchen he carefully bent down and picked up the envelope and then returned to the couch with it.

The next hour was spent rereading the papers several times and repeatedly muttering under his breath various insults aimed at Trish such as, "Fucking vulture," and, "Leaching bitch." She was pulling out all the stops to take as much as she could from him as she had promised. One fuck had cost him all of this. One fuck with Stephanie McMahon. That made him think; where the hell was Stephanie? She had said she would be over soon and that had been ages ago. Suddenly he worried that maybe her eye was still bad and had caused her to crash her car or something so he tried to call her but although the phone rang there was no reply until voicemail eventually picked up.

Pointlessly he immediately tried again with the same result. Where the hell was she? There was still no sign of her by lunchtime and Paul began to convince himself that Stephanie was off somewhere with her other man. He must have called her and made her a better offer. At the very least she could have had the decency to call him and say that she wasn't going to come over.

Paul's physiotherapist arrived a half hour later and spent some time examining the knee and recommended that Paul should go for another scan on it as there was a possibility of further damage. Even if further damage had not occurred no physio work could be done while the knee was swollen so the man recommended that he should come back no sooner than Monday. Paul agreed but he was furious. At the very least Trish had put his recovery back by a week with her stupidity and possibly a lot longer if he had worsened the injury.

After seeing the physiotherapist out of the door Paul slammed it closed in anger and growled to himself, "You fucking little bitch Trish! And where the fuck are you Stephanie, huh?" He returned to the couch and tried to call Stephanie again but this time the call went straight to voicemail. Paul threw his phone at the opposite end of the couch in frustration and raged, "Turned your fucking phone of now have you? God damn it."

Despite his anger he also still had the vague fear that maybe Stephanie had crashed her car or something so he picked his phone back up and checked the local news online to make sure there had been no serious road accidents. Finding nothing he turned on the TV and tried unsuccessfully to get Stephanie out of his head. Nearly another half hour dragged by before the doorbell rang.

Instinctively Paul knew that it was Stephanie. He got up as quickly as he could which was not very quickly at all and made his way to the door. As he opened it he started to demand, "You said you were coming over soon and that was..." He saw that in addition to Stephanie's left eye being a mess she had been crying and the anger instantly left his voice, "What's wrong?"

He moved aside so that Stephanie could enter and instead of answering the question she started to cry heavily again. Paul repeated, "What is it?"

"I got a call to go into the office to meet some guy, a temporary head of talent relations or something and..." She was unable to continue as she began to sob.

"And what Steph?" Paul asked tenderly, dreading the answer and failing to realise that he had just shortened her name for the first time.

"I got released," She managed between sobs.

Paul's eyes widened in shock, "Released?"

"I lost my job. This was my dream and it's over. I didn't even get a reason. It's just over."

Paul awkwardly hugged Stephanie as best he could while holding his crutches and balancing on one leg, "I think I know what this about."

Stephanie's confusion was obvious, "How could you know why they released me if they don't even give me a reason myself?"

"I need to check something." With that Paul released her and made his way back to the couch and his phone. He settled back onto the couch to rest his knee and went straight for the WWE website on his phone and saw exactly what he had expected. There was no announcement relating to Stephanie being released.

Confusion as much as anything had stopped Stephanie crying as she watched Paul, "What are you doing?"

Paul looked at her and she saw fury in his eyes, "Don't cry any more. You're not going to lose your job. I know what..."

"I already have lost my job, they released me," Stephanie interrupted sadly.

"No you haven't. This is Molinaro, the fucking bitch is using you to get at me. I got one over on her in her office the other week and she promised to pay me back for it and this is it. There's no announcement about you being released on the website so she hasn't made it official yet, she's waiting for me to go over there and kiss her ass and beg for you to get your job back."

Stephanie was incredulous, "She would use me like that?"

"You better believe it. I never should have mouthed off at her, she's obviously not the full fucking ticket to go this far to get payback on me."

"Oh my god," Stephanie gasped, "What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? I'm going to go over there now and beg for your job. There's plenty of time for me to get over there today."

Tears filled Stephanie's eyes again, "You would do that for me?"

"I'm not going to let you get hurt like this because of me, that bitch has won this one. I'm going over there now." As Paul stood Stephanie began to cry again as she hugged him, "Thank you Paul. You don't know what getting this job back would mean to me. Wrestling is my life, it's all I've ever wanted to do."

Paul returned the hug as best he could, "I know exactly what it means, wrestling has always been my life too. Don't worry I'll get you your job back no matter what hoops that vicious bitch has me jump through, I promise."

Stephanie looked at him and he saw the hope in her eyes, "You promise?"

Paul assured her, "I promise. I will not walk out of that fucking woman's office until she guarantees me you have your job back." All thoughts of Stephanie and the mystery man had vanished from Paul's mind for now, having been replaced by rage directed at Laura Molinaro.

"Thank you so much," Stephanie said as she hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder in an attempt to hide her tears which were flowing freely again but this time due to the prospect of getting her job back and the realisation that she had been right all along. Deep down Paul cared about her and now he had finally realised it for himself.


	20. Chapter 20

The anger had been boiling inside of Paul from the second he had realised what Laura Molinaro had done. He knew the bitch could be wild and he had known with absolute certainty that she would do something for payback but this was over the line, a long way over the line. As he made his way into Laura's outer office on his crutches he asked the secretary, who he thought without doubt had the worst job in the world, "Is Laura in? I assume she is."

The secretary looked up from her computer screen and Paul noticed the stress lines on her forehead and the fact that her brown hair appeared to be slightly darker than the last time he had seen her. She was having it coloured. Laura is sending you grey and you can't be over thirty five he thought with a trace of humor. He imagined that his own blonde hair would start to turn if he had to spend eight hours a day with that fucking dragon barking orders at him non stop. Actually he would not be able to make it through the first shift.

"She is but I don't have an appointment for you today?" The secretary had a slightly quizzical look on her face as if she was trying to decide whether the error was on Paul's part or her own.

Paul snorted, "Trust me, she's waiting to see me."

The next comment surprised Paul, "Well you're probably in luck, she's been in a good mood all day, ever since she hired her husband to replace you in fact. I've never seen anything like it, she hasn't even snapped at me all day."

Hired her husband to replace him? What the hell did her husband know about the wrestling industry. The woman was obviously bat shit crazy, firing people left, right and centre and replacing them with people who had no clue how to do the job they had been given. Stupid bitch, thinking she was so high and mighty in her plush office ruining who ever's life she felt like whenever she felt like it. Again the anger began to boil to the surface, "She's fucking with people's lives that's why she's happy, the sadistic bitch," Paul growled, "Just get me in there please."

The venom in his voice and presumably the angry expression on his face had caused the woman in front of him to raise her eyebrows prior to picking up her phone. She pressed a button and waited for a response for several seconds. When she spoke she sounded a little hesitant as if doing her job and informing Laura she had a visitor could easily cause her to be savaged, "Paul Levesque is here asking to see you Mrs. Molinaro."

Only a second elapsed before Paul heard, "Yes of course." As the phone was replaced he was informed, "You can go straight through." The tone seemed to imply that it was some great privilege he was being afforded rather than permission to walk into an office for an argument.

As he made his way to the door Paul reminded himself to keep his cool, an argument was not something to relish with this egomaniac, not today anyway as there was Stephanie to consider. If he went in and started shouting, raging and insulting Laura things were only going to get worse for Stephanie, this was not about his pride now it was about getting Stephanie's job back even if it meant kissing the ass of the woman he hated more than anyone else in the world. He knew that this could possibly be one of the toughest things he had done in his life to date as he would be tempted the whole time to tell Laura to go fuck herself. Hopefully the temptation would not prove too great although he could not rule it out as he imagined the smug expression he would find on the woman's face when he entered the office just a few seconds from now.

"Let me get the door," Laura's secretary's voice came from behind him and she walked over and helped him out as he took a deep breath to compose himself. He made his way into the office and there she was. Laura was standing to greet him with a smile on her face, "Hello Paul, good to see you." The smile may not have contained the smugness he had expected but the eyes did. Those striking green eyes always gave her away. Paul wondered if she knew that this was the case and if so did she even care? She more than likely wanted him to know that she was pleased with what she had done and that he had reacted and arrived in her office so quickly._  
><em>

Doing his best to bite his tongue Paul made his way to the desk the large wooden desk. As he looked at Laura even despite his intense anger and hatred of the arrogant bitch he admitted that she looked amazing. He could not help looking at the silver necklace she wore and the small figure that dangled at the end of it between and just above her breasts as she leaned over the wide desk to greet him with an outstretched hand. It looked like it might be some kind of angel, he considered that to be least appropriate thing imaginable for her to wear. Try again Laura, buy one with a fucking devil on it or something. Tearing his focus away from the necklace and her breasts he managed a tense half smile and almost despite himself shook the offered hand which was warm, strange for such a cold hearted reptile. He wondered what kind of reptile would she be? A snake, definitely a snake. She was obviously low enough.

"Laura." He was pleased that his greeting contained no warmth and precious little respect as neither thing was deserved.

The smile on her face had changed, now there was humor in it and the corners of her mouth had turned upwards slightly, "You like my necklace Paul?"

Realising that he had been caught window shopping Paul felt his cheeks reddening but Laura let him off the hook by asking another question before he could fumble a response to the first, "How's the recovery coming along? Take a seat if it's more comfortable for you."

Paul had to admit that this bitch was good as he sat down and Laura did the same in her large high backed chair. If he did not know better he might have believed her concern was genuine but instead he felt himself begin to boil yet again as he wrestled with himself to keep his voice calm and the memory of Stephanie crying her eyes out came to him. This was no time for small talk or bullshit, this bitch had something to answer for and put right. Even so he had to answer the question she had posed.

"Actually I think Trish caused me to reinjure it. My physio work has been put back by at least a week and I've been recommended to have another scan on it."

"That's not good news," Laura grimaced, "That's not good at all. I'll have someone contact you and we'll get that scan done asap. What brings you here today?"

That's not good news. The comment made Paul grip the arms of the chair he sat in. It was obvious that she was not thinking that it was bad news for Paul as he would potentially face more time away from the job he loved or even that it was bad news that he was in pain. It was not even bad news that Trish had shown up at his home and assaulted Stephanie, leading to the injury being aggravated. No, the bad news was that she might lose more money and ratings with one of her prized assets unavailable to her.

Unable not to, Paul bristled although he did manage to avoid reacting to the comment that had pissed him off with it's underlying meaning, "Look let's not play games. We both know why I'm here, you had Stephanie released to get back at me."

"Excuse me?" One of her perfectly shaped eyebrows had raised a little. The fake innocence was infuriating.

"Come on Laura don't try to tell me you didn't do it. I know lying is not your thing."

"Stephanie has not been released... yet." She reached into a drawer in her desk and withdrew a sheet of paper. "She won't be released until I sign this." So that was the idea was it? Wait for him to rush over to the office and make him sit there and watch as she signed off on Stephanie's release with no consideration to how it would affect Stephanie. Paul had to try hard to resist jumping up in anger and hurting his knee even more. Instead it was only his voice which rose, "That's what this is? You wanted to have me sit here and watch you destroy the girl's life just because you heard that we've been spending time together? You're that low? I pissed you off that much?"

The sheet of paper sat on the desk in front of Laura and she picked up an expensive looking silver fountain pen but then she paused theatrically and looked him coldly in the eyes before asking, "You remember that day in here don't you Paul? I told you I would remind you of it. I don't know if you play poker but I'm holding one hell of a hand here and it looks to me like you have nothing."

She was a poker player? Really? With those eyes and her stupid outbursts of anger and aggression? Paul wanted to ask her to tell him how much she had actually won at the poker table but decided to let it slide.

Realising that this was the time to forget his pride and willingness to draw a reaction from the woman opposite him and instead attempt to live up to his promise to Stephanie and get her job back Paul managed to keep his cool, "What do you want from me? You want an apology? Fine, I'm sorry for running my mouth at you that day and I apologise for my bad attitude. Now can we leave Stephanie out of this please?"

A smug smile appeared on Laura's face but the pen remained in her hand, "That's a good start at least. I want something else from you, then we can try to forget all of this unpleasantness."

Paul sighed, "Fine, name it?"

The next question took him completely by surprise, "How much of the creative work that we're using right now is yours and how much is Trish's?" What the hell was she talking about now and where was she going with this? What did Trish's writing have to do with anything?

"What?"

Laura's eyes rolled prior to the sarcasm, "I'm fluent in Italian and I have some Spanish and German, would using one of those make this easier?"

Paul felt his jaw tightening again in anger but he was still winning the battle to appear calm, "Most of it is mine. She's making small changes but she's still using a lot of what I wrote before you fired me."

Silence descended on the office. Paul watched as the fountain pen began to twirl in Laura's fingers which he correctly figured was a sign of irritation. Had Trish been trying to pass off his work as her own? He certainly hoped so, he really hoped she had been lying to Laura. As if to emphasise what he was thinking the silence was broken by a quiet but menacing question.

"You know what will happen if I find out that you're lying to me?"

"It's true. There's another couple of weeks worth of storylines up to the next pay per view that are mostly my work," Paul laughed before continuing, "Then we both know what is going to happen. You're going to be relying on Trish's creativity which means your ratings are going to sink faster than the Titanic. Great decision to give her that job by the way, a real stroke of genius that was."

Laura was seemingly unaffected by the sarcasm, "I didn't give her the job, I gave her a trial. I suspected that she was trying to pass your work off as her own therefore this is what I want from you in return for this sheet of paper to go in the trash."

For the next two minutes Laura explained what she wanted Paul to do and he was left stunned and hating every second that he had to look at the smug, arrogant bitch sitting opposite him. Of all the things she could have had him do this was the worst he could have imagined. Actually that was not true because he never could have imagined it. After a few moments of silence Laura sighed, "I need a decision on this, it's late and I'd really like to head home. What's it going to be, do we have an agreement or not?"

* * *

><p>Stephanie had made herself busy cleaning Paul's condo since he had left, hoping that it would also occupy her mind while she waited for him to return. Of course it had not worked and all she could think about was what she was going to do if he returned and told her that he had failed to get her job back. Naively she had almost convinced herself that he was wrong about Laura, she would not do something like this to get back at Paul. Hopefully there was some misunderstanding that had caused her to be released and Laura getting involved personally could clear it up quickly.<p>

She was hoovering the floor of the living area when she glanced out of the window and saw a cab pull up outside. A few moments later Paul awkwardly climbed out. Stephanie turned off the hoover with her foot and muttered under her breath, "Please, please, please, please," as Paul made his way towards the door. Surely he would have good news, surely her dream was not really over? She walked over and opened the door before Paul got there and pleaded, "Please have good news?"

Paul said nothing as he entered the condo and Stephanie could not read anything from his expression. Desperate for good news she pleaded, "Paul? Talk to me!"

Stephanie closed the door and looked expectantly at Paul. She was still unable to read anything from him but after a moment a smile began to appear on his face, "I spoke to Laura and she's going to see to it that you're not released. She looked into it and luckily it hadn't been finalised as yet so she's blocked it. Not only that, I decided to push my luck and tell her that she should offer you an improved contract in return for what she wanted from me and she went for it."

A shriek of delight escaped Stephanie as she hugged Paul as tightly as she could, "Thank you so much! Oh my god! How did you do that? How did you do it, huh? Oh my god!"

Paul returned the hug as best he could while holding his crutches and trying not to put any weight on his right leg, "You're welcome. Look at me."

Stephanie released her embrace slightly so that she could pull back a little and do as he asked. Paul saw what he had hoped for, the reason he had agreed to what Laura wanted him to do. There was sheer joy and also relief in Stephanie's beautiful green eyes and then they began to fill with tears as the relief was obviously hitting her, "I really can't believe this. What did you say? What did she want from you? What did you do?"

Telling her what he had agreed to was definitely not something that Paul intended to do right now as it would spoil the happy mood for sure. Therefore he decided to keep his cards close to his chest, "I jumped through hoops, just like I promised."

"I don't know what that means but thank you." The relief was so obvious in Stephanie's voice and with that they shared a long, slow kiss and for the first time it contained genuine passion. However even as they kissed doubts began to eat away at Paul. Stephanie had only been placed in this awful position to begin with and Paul had only had to agree to Laura's sick demand because of the fact that Laura and Trish thought they were in a relationship. Maybe the best thing for Stephanie, for both of them in fact, would be for him to break it off with her before it got a chance to go that far and get serious?


	21. Chapter 21

"I'm so nervous and you're not helping," Stephanie moaned as she sat next to Paul in Laura Molinaro's outer office the following morning. Paul looked at her and was amused as she scanned around the office with wide eyes and shook her head slightly, "Look at this place. I've never been anywhere even close to being like this before. Some people have so much money."

This was one of the things Paul liked most about Stephanie. He was not sure how he would describe it, not necessarily naivety, innocence maybe. She seemed to be so easily awed by things and it always brought a smile to his face. "_People_ have money? You do realise the company pays for all of this right?" Paul had a grin on his face as he posed the question.

"I'm not stupid Paul," Stephanie defended herself indignantly, "but you can't tell me Laura doesn't have money. The kind of money I'm never going to have."

"Never say never Steph."

Stephanie turned and grinned at him. Apparently she thought his comment was a joke but she changed the subject, "Why won't you even tell me what you said to her yesterday and what you agreed to?"

Paul looked at Stephanie again and was once more struck by how stunning she looked even despite the slight swelling that was still visible around her left eye. She had done a great job with her make up which meant it was actually tough to tell that she had been punched in the face less than two days before. She was wearing the most expensive dress she owned, a sleeveless navy blue number. Paul had meant it when he told her she looked incredible when he had first seen her in it earlier in the morning. "Look Steph you don't know this woman like I do okay, let me do the talking in there and things will work out," he almost whispered to keep Laura's secretary from overhearing. He doubted that the woman would run to Laura telling tales but maybe she would do anything for some brownie points. Who knew? Safe was better than sorry.

It did not escape Stephanie that again her question about the meeting the previous day had been avoided but she let it go with a smile, "I don't understand business talk Paul and you do so if you want to do the talking go right ahead."

They had both assumed that Laura was in her office as they had been told to sit and wait by the secretary but this was proved not to be the case as she breezed in from the hallway dressed in her usual dark suit pants and this time a cream blouse that seemed to make the darkness of her skin tone stand out even more than usual. Paul silently bemoaned the fact that her beauty was only skin deep and that she was in fact a disgusting human being as she greeted Paul and Stephanie almost cheerfully, "Good morning," then without waiting for a reply she had walked past them whilst issuing orders, "Paul join me in my office, Stephanie wait out here for a few minutes please."

Immediately wary of a double cross of some kind Paul was quick to question Laura as he stood to follow her, "Good morning, everything okay?"

Laura was inside her office by the time she replied, "Come in and close the door."

Not really having any choice Paul did as ordered, leaving Stephanie outside as he awkwardly closed the door, struggling with his crutches. As he did so Laura's perfume filled his nostrils. Whatever the presumably expensive fragrance was it was incredible. He found himself wondering why he could not encounter Laura without thinking about how hot she was, after all he despised the woman. Maybe that was the reason. He had certainly never fucked someone he hated before, or a married woman for that matter. That would be a thrill of some kind in itself.

"Oh, sorry. How is the knee this morning?" The concern in her voice seemed genuine to him as it interrupted his thoughts but he figured that it probably was. Of course she was concerned about his recovery, she wanted him out there pushing her ratings up. That was obviously what she actually cared about, not his health. He was an asset to her not a person and it made him begin to get angry already as he replied, "I need that scan. You said someone would contact me and nobody did."

"No one called you yesterday?" Laura demanded as she took her seat behind her desk.

"That's what I just said."

A quiet but furious growl escaped her throat as she closed her eyes, "I swear sometimes people think I give orders as a joke. Take a seat Paul. I apologise for this, when we're done here I'll go look into this personally and someone will wish I hadn't."

Paul took his seat, wondering briefly if his complaint had just cost someone their job. The irrelevant thought quickly disappeared from his mind as it returned to what Laura was going to have him do in exchange for Stephanie's own job. He felt his blood begin to boil again as it always seemed to very quickly around Laura. It was so unfair and it was going to be hell, "Look I agreed to what you wanted and we shook hands on a deal so just do the right thing and have Steph in here, have her sign the new contract and apologise to her for the upset she went through."

"I'm giving you the chance to change your mind."

Paul bristled and his voice raisd, "We made an agreement and shook hands. You think you're the only one here who places any value on their word?"

His anger drew no reaction, "Fine. Have you told Stephanie what was agreed?"

"Not yet and neither will you," Paul insisted, "I'll do it later when this is behind her."

"Okay that's fair," Laura said and then she rose from her chair, "This animosity between us can end here Paul or it can continue. It's up to you. Frankly I don't give a damn either way." With that she offered her hand to Paul across the desk. His first instinct was to tell her to stick her half baked olive branch up her ass and if he had been the only one to consider he almost certainly would have done but again he felt a sense of responsibility to Stephanie forcing him down a different path. Knowing that things would only get worse if he ignored the peace offer that had just been made Paul stood and shook the hand without comment.

"Send Stephanie in, she's owed an apology," Laura ordered after the handshake was done.

"Damn right she is," Paul growled as he made his way to the door and awkwardly opened it. He sent Stephanie into the office and sat down to wait for her. He quickly convinced himself that he did not trust Laura or her offer of a truce and that both he and Stephanie would continue to be targeted as long as Laura believed they were together. The crazy bitch clearly got some kind of enjoyment from tormenting him and she was not going to stop this easily, he simply did not believe it.

Therefore he was going to have to end this thing with Stephanie before she lost her job over it, it was the only option. He had avoided her losing her job this time but only at the cost of ruining his own life for the next few months. It was obvious that she was set on the idea of being with him but it was best to break it off now before she got too attached. It was the best thing for both of them but especially Stephanie.

He had to wait for just under ten minutes for Stephanie to emerge from the office. When she did so she had a broad smile on her face. Paul awkwardly stood again and as they walked out of the office side by side he asked, "What did she say in there?"

Stephanie was still smiling, "She was very nice. I don't know why you dislike her so much, you were totally wrong about her doing this to get at you. She looked into what happened with my contract and luckily although that guy called me in and told me I was being released luckily no one had actually signed off on it yet so Laura tore into him and she's personally made sure that it can't happen and she's extended my contract by a year. She apologised for the upset that I was caused and in the new contract I signed she's improved my pay slightly to compensate me for it. I've now got a two year contract and I'm making more money. I really can't believe it and this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't rushed down here to speak with her yesterday Paul. I can't thank you enough for whatever you said to her."

Managing not to shake his head at how unbelievably naive Stephanie could be at times Paul kept his response simple as he wondered how on Earth Laura had managed to do what she had done to Stephanie and still come out of it looking good. The woman was something else. "You're welcome," was all he said.

"We should go have lunch somewhere to celebrate," Stephanie bubbled excitedly as they entered the elevator to go back down to the lobby.

"Look Steph, we need to talk. Let's go back to my place okay?"

A look of concern appeared on her face, "That doesn't sound good."

Paul avoided answering Stephanie's questions as best as he could as she carefully drove his Mercedes back to his condo. When they arrived and walked in Stephanie asked, "Shall I make us some coffee?" She headed to the kitchen area as though she already knew the answer but she was wrong.

"Let's just sit down and talk." Paul was not looking forward to this at all and wanted to get it over with as soon as he could. He awkwardly sat on the couch and waited for Stephanie to join him but she said, "Put your legs up, rest your knee. You've been doing much more than you should with it the last couple of days."

It did feel good to relax and rest the knee which was throbbing again. He may have been using crutches but being out and about still inevitably meant the knee was moved a lot more than it should be at this early stage especially as it was potentially injured again. Paul looked at Stephanie as she sat on the floor by his side, looking up at him and he dreaded what he was about to do and the upset it would cause to this amazing, kind hearted girl. Reluctantly he began, "Steph listen. I don't really know how to say this as I'm not good with words when it comes to things like this so I'm just going to tell it how it is. We need to end this thing between us before it gets started. If we don't you're going to lose your job over it and I'm going to have my life made a living hell too. Between them Trish and more importantly Laura are going to see to both of those things."

As predicted Stephanie looked wounded and taken completely by surprise, "End it? Why would you say that? I want to be with you. And what the hell does Trish have to do with it?"

Paul sighed, "Laura made me agree to do something to save your job. Until my knee injury is healed and I'm back in the ring I'm working on the creative team. I'm working for Trish. That's right my bitch soon to be ex wife is now my boss. It's going to be a living nightmare and I'm going to hate it and believe me they've got their sights on you too."

Defiantly Stephanie took his hand as though holding it would mean she was unable to leave and insisted, "I don't care. I want to be with you." Paul's head was quickly becoming a mess of emotions. He had told himself persistently to avoid another relationship, to avoid women altogether but at this point there was no denying that he had genuine feelings for Stephanie. Not love, it was too soon for him to love someone again but she was a beautiful woman and she obviously had a heart of gold. It was for that reason that he was determined she would not get hurt or have her dreams destroyed on his behalf, this thing had to end.

Paul squeezed her hand, "You don't even know me Steph. Hell I don't know you either. All we know is we find each other attractive and we enjoy each other's company. That's not love and it's not a reason to ruin your dreams. I'm sorry but this can't happen between us. Believe me I'm ending this because it's for the best for both of us, especially for you. That's the only reason."

"Don't say that. Please don't say that. This is not for the best and it's not what I want. I want you. Being with you is what's best for me."

It sounded to Paul as though Stephanie was almost begging him to change his mind and already words were starting to desert him as Stephanie's words and the devastated look on her face cut into his heart like a knife, much more than he had expected it to but still he stumbled on, "You're a great girl and you've been amazing these last couple of weeks but I'm not going to see you get hurt over me. You may think you love me but we don't know enough about each other and we've not spent enough time together for that to be true. Just go Steph. Don't make it harder than it already is. This is how it has to be."

There were tears in Stephanie's eyes now, "Paul please don't do this. I do love you. Suddenly her tone grew angry which surprised Paul a little. He had never heard an angry word from Stephanie before, not even after Trish had punched her, "You're going to give in to Trish and Laura? They want to make you miserable so you're just going to let them?"

"I'm trying to do what's best..."

Stephanie's face had darkened somehow and when she cut him off her voice was almost a shout, "No! You're a fighter Paul, that's what you do, so fight." She seemed to calm down in a few seconds after the outburst before continuing, "Fight Laura and fight Trish instead of admitting defeat before they even start. I know what I see in your eyes Paul, you have feelings for me and I have feelings for you. Tell me I'm wrong."

Her statement was true so he could not deny it. He did have feelings for her but having feelings was very different to love and she did not seem to realise it. "Steph this your dream job, you said that yourself. I know what Laura is like and I definitely know what Trish is like so be under no illusions what you're letting yourself in for here. I really was just trying to do what's best for you."

"You are what's best for me. I'll worry about Trish and Laura if I have to." With that she stood and leaned over him and held both sides of his face as she kissed him long and slow and she tasted so good. Paul wondered what the hell he had been thinking of, Stephanie was right, fuck Laura and fuck Trish. Maybe this would turn into something with Stephanie or maybe it would not but one thing was for sure, neither of those miserable bitches would be the ones to decide it for him.


	22. Chapter 22

Almost surreal. That was the only to describe it. Paul had just been dropped off at the office in his own Mercedes by his girlfriend, if that was even what she was, to start his first day working for a new boss who happened to not even be his ex wife yet. It caused Paul to shake his head as he made his way across the lobby of WWE headquarters. At least there was good news to go with all of this lunacy, he had undergone another MRI on his knee and the injury had not worsened as he had feared. In under three months all of this crap would be behind him and he would be back in the ring doing what he loved to do and in a week or two he could get rid of these stupid crutches as long as he was very careful when walking. But could he actually last three months working for Trish?

"Excuse me. Excuse me, Mr. Levesque?"

One of the young women working on the large reception desk was calling him over there. For what? He made his way over there and asked the attractive red haired woman, "What is it?"

"Sir I've been told to tell you to go straight to Mrs. Molinaro's office when you arrive."

The way this was phrased did not surprise Paul but it irritated him, "Did she say to ask me or to tell me?"

"Tell you sir."

"Did she tell you to say please?"

"Uh... I don't think Mrs. Molinaro says please to people."

Paul grinned, "Then you know what to tell her if she asks why I didn't show up." Without waiting for a reply he headed towards the elevator with a satisfied smile on his face. If Laura wanted him to do something she could ask him herself and do so properly. Of course the fact that disobeying her would piss her off was another bonus. They may have shaken hands but she had talked about ending animosity not ending pissing her off.

It felt strange as he entered the elevator that he had to press the button for the seventh floor as that was where the creative department was located. He was used to working on and visiting the much more impressive tenth floor but for the next few months he would have to deal with it. He was alone in the elevator and it did not stop on any other floor as it made its ascent. Upon reaching the seventh floor the doors slid open and Paul immediately sighed.

The woman leaning against the wall in the hallway in front of him shook her head in disappointment, "Oh Paul. How did I know this would happen?"

Paul wondered why Laura was on the seventh floor waiting for him? Then it clicked, the answer was obvious; she had been waiting to see if he would disobey her request which of course stupidly he had. "Okay you got me," Paul sighed as he exited the elevator.

What was even more surprising than her presence on the seventh floor was her appearance. She wore a dress which was remarkable enough by itself but the bright blue color in contrast with her dark skin made her look incredible and the necklace with the angel was still there too. Paul was no expert in women's fashion to say the least but what he did know was that the dress showed her legs. Finally he got to see them and just as he had always imagined they must be, they were amazing. There was nothing like a pair of perfectly shaped long legs like these. Well, apart from a huge pair of tits which sadly she did not have. Hers were reasonable but if she invested some money they could be so much better. She had also had someone do something with her hair and that looked great too.

"Excuse the way I'm dressed, I have a charity event and then a lunch to fly out for soon."

Now what was more surprising, the fact that his deliberate ignorance of her instruction had been dropped so easily or the fact that she did work for charity? And excuse the way she was dressed? Was she on drugs? She looked incredible, stunning. In fact Paul felt himself actually lusting for the woman despite hating her and despite being in a new relationship with Stephanie. He told himself to stop, he could not go down that path again. Getting caught cheating was shit plus Laura was married to that asshole. Putting his feelings aside as much as possible he demanded, "Why did you tell me to go to your office and then wait here?"

This actually drew a smile, "Firstly I was almost certain that you would ignore me and secondly if you had actually gone to my office my secretary would have called me and I would have walked in and you would have had no idea where I had been." Of course she had planned the whole thing thoroughly, he told himself that he should have seen it coming as she continued, "These three months will be a lot easier if we can cut out this kind of stupidity."

"Point taken," Paul lied, "So why do you want me? I'm here for work as we agreed so what is it?"

Laura moved away from her position against the wall, "Isn't it obvious? I need to introduce Trish to her new member of staff. Follow me."

She turned and walked away as Paul demanded, "You haven't even told Trish about this?"

"Everyone needs to have some fun in life Paul," she chirped without turning around or slowing down as she headed down the hallway much faster than he could follow on his crutches.

* * *

><p>Trish Levesque was satisfied with life as she made progress with her first cup of green tea of the day as she sat at her desk. Being in charge of the creative department was great, it was what she had wanted for so long and now she was actually doing it. Not only that the ratings were still really high despite her so called husband getting injured at the most inconvenient time. The ratings were all that mattered and they were high so Laura Molinaro loved her. As long as she was on the correct side of the boss she knew there was nothing to worry about.<p>

"Good morning Trish."

This was a surprise, here was the boss now and in her office doorway too. Since when did she go around making visits? This must be a privilege of some kind. Trish gave her best smile and made sure to get the pronunciation of her name perfect although she always found it tough, "Good morning Laura. What can I do for you?"

The smile on the boss' face looked... what did it look like? Amusement maybe? Why? Laura walked into the office and closed the door, "Nothing actually," Laura clarified, "I've recruited someone else for your team. I know he's a very talented writer and he's capable of some really creative ideas."

Trish smiled back, "Great. Who is it? And how are you so sure of his ability?"

The voice grew a little colder, "You should be sure of it too. Most of what you're using right now is his work apparently."

The cup of green tea had been half way to Trish's mouth when she froze. Was Laura really saying what it sounded like she was saying? "Paul? You're not going to make me work with Paul?"

Laura grinned, "No. For the next three months I'm going make Paul work _for _you. Understood?"

Now Trish realised what Laura was getting at. She was going to be Paul's boss for three months. This was going to be great, for her at least. Her bastard husband on the other hand would feel quite differently about it. Laura clearly wanted Paul to suffer and suffer he would. Trish gave a huge smile, "Oh my, thank you Laura."

"Don't mention it. Enjoy." Laura opened the door and disappeared but her voice could be heard outside in the hallway and it was full of humor, "You can go in now, meet your boss. And play nicely both of you or I'll bang your heads together."

Paul bit his tongue to avoid asking Laura how she felt about him taking her and Trish and banging their heads together instead. In any case he was too late as Laura had marched away leaving him no choice but to head into Trish's office. He was dreading the smile that was certain to be on her face before he walked in and actually saw it. "Well this is a turn of events huh?" Trish asked smugly.

At least when things like this happened with Laura at some base level there was an element of gamesmanship to it that he enjoyed in a way and he thought that maybe she did too. Why else would she have made the effort to wait for him outside of the elevator? It was clear that no one else stood up to her the way he did and while it undoubtedly pissed her off he suspected that she respected him a little for it too. None of this was the case with Trish, she had only spoken one sentence and it was full of spite and hatred.

"So that's how this is going be?"

Trish drained her cup of tea and took great satisfaction in informing him, "You bet your ass it is." She held out her empty white cup, "I'll take another green tea. When you bring it back I'll see what I can find for you to work on."

Already Paul was getting pissed off big time, "How long did we live together? You know I don't make tea. Especially that muck."

"You better learn fast then because you do now."

Paul tried a different tack, "I'm injured, I can't go around doing your fetching and carrying. I can't even carry a cup of tea. I have to walk on these crutches."

"So go make it and ask someone else nicely to bring it for you."

"Come on Trish..."

"Don't Trish me. You can refer to me as boss or Miss Stratus."

Paul was boiling now, "You're taking the piss right? I'm not calling you Miss Stratus, we're not even divorced yet for fuck's sake. And boss? Please.

The expression on Trish's face hardened even more, "Yes we're not divorced and that's a pity. Go."

After snatching the empty cup Paul made his way out of her office and set about looking for the canteen. As he did so he complained to himself, "Three months. I'm ready to kill the bitch after less than three minutes. You better appreciate this Stephanie."

Five minutes later Paul returned to Trish's office with some other guy who had been in the canteen carrying the tea. The guy had looked frankly stunned to find Triple H making tea in the same canteen as him and appeared to consider it an honor to carry the cup for him. The guy set the cup in front of Trish who ordered Paul, "Say thank you to Steve."

Being spoken to like a child in front of this man was so embarrassing but Paul managed, "Thanks man."

"Pleasure." The man hurried off clearly wondering what the hell was going on. "Sit," Trish ordered.

"Yes boss," Paul put as much sarcasm into it as he could which was a great deal. "What would you like me to do? Wash your car? Kiss your ass?"

"Wash my car maybe when your knee heals some but kiss my ass? No chance. You can do that with your slut if that's what she likes."

This was too much for Paul who yelled, "Enough! Giving me shit is one thing but I'm not going to sit here and take that."

Trish backed down a little, "You're right. Okay so, work. Since you already met Steve you can work with him, he's working on something for the divas title. You like writing storylines for women, right?"

With his eyes closed Paul counted to three in his head to try to keep his cool and managed to say, "I'll get on that then." It took him a couple of minutes to find where Steve was working and to sit at the desk next to him. He was not even sure the guy believed him when he was informed that Paul would be working with him but Paul asked, "What's our brief?"

"Basically we've got to give someone a push for the divas title. I've not done anything on it at all yet, the boss only just put me on it. Oh yeah, there's only one order on this, for some reason we're not allowed to use Stephanie McMahon. Don't ask me why."

Paul sighed, "I already know why. Don't worry about it."

With that Paul began the first day of many in hell, wondering why on Earth he had agreed to this. Why had he not been able to tell resist helping Stephanie? Why had the sight of her crying affected him the way it had? If he had just ended it then and not reacted to Laura supposedly releasing her this would not be happening.

"Shit," he growled as a further realisation hit him. Now he was almost certain of it, Laura never was going to allow Stephanie to be released, she was just playing him. "She played me like a fucking violin and I went right along with it. What an asshole. Now I'm committed to this shit for three months. I'll never make it that long. I'm talking to myself too." It was lucky that Steve had gone to the men's room.

It was then that Paul realised that maybe it was not Stephanie crying that had made him do what he had done. Sure that must have played a part but could it have been his desire to compete with Laura? Some fucking woman trying to get the better of him, and succeeding too which was even worse. Yes, that was what it was!

Laura needed putting firmly in her place and she needed a damn good fucking too. Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone? If he fucked her he would be the boss of the two without doubt. He would be in control and he would be able to hold it over her and threaten to ruin her marriage whenever he liked. He could soon get out of this joke job working for Trish that way as well. He was willing to bet that fucking Laura would be amazing too, the way she looked in that dress earlier returned to him as did the thought that she must be wild. What would it be like to make her beg for more in Italian? What a turn on that would be!

He briefly considered that he was back on the slippery slope again as he started to get hard at the thoughts he was having. He had been with Trish and wanted Stephanie but now he was with Stephanie he wanted Laura but it was what it was. The woman was crazy hot, what was he supposed to do? He only had to fuck her once, that was all. One fuck and all of his problems would be solved. He would make sure that no one else saw them too, he had learned that lesson and he did not want Stephanie to find out.

So, how was he going to go about this? How to fuck a married woman who hated him? It was a much better subject to think about than the divas title that was for sure.

* * *

><p>Laura Molinaro sipped from a cup of strong black coffee and savoured the hit it gave her. She was sitting next to her husband on her private jet as they travelled towards the charity event they were attending at a special needs school.<p>

"What are you so pleased about?" Apparently her husband had noticed the smile on her face.

"I had an enjoyable morning, what's wrong with that?"

"Laura this is me you're talking to. You hate getting up earlier than usual, you hate wearing a dress and you hate flying. Usually you would be in a mood right now but instead you look like the cat that got the cream, so spill."

"Oh okay. I've got Paul Levesque working for Trish for three months while he's injured."

She watched her husband's eyes narrow as though he suspected his memory might be failing him, "I thought they were getting divorced?"

"They are. Just keep an eye on her at your department head meetings. She's still on trial."

A grin appeared on Dan's face now, "You're evil, you know that? You can't seriously expect them to work together for three months?"

Laura beamed back at him, "Yeah but you love me for it and honestly no I don't expect him to last the three months but he gave his word so I've got time to think of something else to punish him with if he comes to me begging to break it. It will be great when he does that, I love getting under that guy's skin after how he ran his mouth at me and he makes it so easy."

"You take things like that way too seriously."

"Yes I do. Shut up and come here." Laura leaned over and they began to kiss, paying no regard to the stewardess who pretended not to watch from the other side of the cabin with a grin on her face. It was sweet to see such a happy couple and remarkable how much the boss changed around her husband. If only he would travel with her every time she flew.


	23. Chapter 23

The first week working for Trish had been as terrible as Paul had feared that it would be and now it was Monday morning and time to begin the second which had no prospect of being any better. At least things with Stephanie were going well. At least well in the fact that he had decided to give in and accept that they were in a relationship. There had hardly been any time to work on it or spend time together because Trish, or the vulture as Paul now referred to her, had come up with the brilliant idea of booking Stephanie to wrestle on every house show possible which meant that she had been on the road every day apart from the day before which they had at least spent together at his condo. Trish was such a low life that she was deliberately doing everything she could to keep them apart and make things difficult.

He had enjoyed the opportunity of some company the previous day and some of Stephanie's fantastic cooking too. It was worth having a woman around just for that. Sadly sex had not really been practical as Paul could still barely walk without crutches. At least that nightmare seemed to be behind him finally as his physiotherapist had given him the okay to start walking without them starting today as long as he was very careful. The lack of pain surprised him as he walked into WWE headquarters.

Stephanie had been badgering him to take her on a first date but he had not wanted to go out when he was struggling with those stupid crutches. Maybe he could take her out tonight though? Oh no, he realised, that obviously would not be possible as Stephanie would be at Raw. God damn it, another boring night alone in his condo beckoned. As he took the elevator up to the creative department he faced the reality that not only would he be spending the night alone, today was certain to be another bad one in the office and already he felt miserable. Two minutes later he was making his way towards the vulture's office to find out what menial assignment she had for him this week.

To score himself a small victory over the vulture he opened the door to her office without knocking and walked in. Trish looked up at him but instead of irritation at his lack of manners her face seemed to convey amusement. "There you are Paul. I'll take a cup of green tea but when you've done that don't settle in too much. You're coming to Raw and Smackdown with the team from now on so you'll be leaving in a couple of hours."

That was why she was amused. She was anticipating pissing him off. Even though he realised this typically Paul reacted on instinct, "You're taking the piss. I'm supposed to be resting my knee."

"You'll be sitting down," Trish explained as if to someone who was beyond stupid, "I can't see how you can get more rest than that."

Paul had by now had more than enough of jumping at this bitch's every command and he let his anger take control of him at this order which he had no intention of complying with, "Fuck you Trish. I'm not spending two nights a week on the road with you."

Trish leaned back in her chair and took pleasure in clarifying, "No you're not. You're spending them with my team. Look on the bright side, your slut will be there too."

"You will not talk about Stephanie like that!" Paul exploded, "I've told you before about that and I'm not going on the road. In fact I quit this job and you can go fuck yourself you fucking vulture. I'm going to Molinaro and telling her she can stick..."

"Telling her what?"

Paul jumped at the sound of the voice behind him and whipped around. There she was. Laura was leaning against the door frame, grinning slyly at him. Clearly she liked the surprise she had just given him. She sure looked great but what the hell was she doing here and how much had she heard? How could he be this unlucky that she would actually show up when he was mouthing off at Trish?

"Was that question too hard Paul?" The patronising tone she used infuriated Paul instantly as usual. Who was she to talk to him that way?

"She's trying to make me go on the road to Raw and Smackdown," Paul pointed at Trish as he complained which made him look like a child telling tales to a teacher.

"And the reason you can't?"

This was actually a tough one. He suspected that using his knee injury as an excuse as he had with Trish was not going to work but he had no intention of telling the truth which was that he had refused simply because he despised being ordered around by the vulture, in fact by any woman. He decided the only thing to do was lie, "I can't do that amount of travelling with this knee."

Laura looked at him sceptically and raised one of her eyebrows, "Try again with the real reason?"

Paul now had his back to Trish but he just knew that she would be smiling at his discomfort as he struggled in front of the boss and admitted defeat with a sigh, "I don't want to take orders from her, especially stupid ones. You know that."

"Tough. Trish's order is reasonable, you're going. And Trish is right too, you should look on the bright side. Stephanie will be there." Paul was about to attempt to argue but Laura did not afford him the opportunity as she now spoke to Trish, "Trish you didn't get back to me about Thursday night."

"Oh sorry I forgot about it. Yeah, I can go. I'm no good at cards but it's for charity so why not, right? It's not as if I have a husband to stay home with." Paul grimaced as the vulture laughed at her own pathetic joke. He almost had to tell himself aloud to keep his mouth shut with both of these infuriating women chipping away at him. How much could a man take? And what was Laura talking about anyway? He might as well eavesdrop on the conversation and look at Laura's ass while he stood irrelevantly to one side, although she was wearing those stupid suit pants again.

"So you'll play?" She had just asked Trish.

"Yeah, it's a thousand bucks to buy in, right?"

"That's right and three quarters of it goes to the charity. I'll put you on the list then. I've got a flight organised for those who are attending so you don't need to worry about that but you'll have to organise your own hotel or flight back. Some wanted to say and some didn't so I didn't bother organising a flight that would be half empty."

"Okay, sounds good," Trish smiled.

With that Laura turned to leave and nodded slightly to Paul as she did so. For some reason he felt jealous. Why was he not invited to whatever this charity event was that they were talking about? He followed Laura out of the office without even looking at Trish and stopped her walking away with a loud, "Hey!"

Laura stopped walking and turned around, "I think what you mean is excuse me?"

"What is this thing you're talking about, and why am I not invited?" Paul demanded as he savoured the fact that Laura sounded pissed off by his deliberate lack of respect.

"A charity poker tournament. It's for cancer awareness. Three quarters of the entrance money goes to charity, one quarter to prize money."

"Wait, you're telling me you actually really do play poker? You must be the single worst player in the world."

There was no response for a moment as Laura seemed to consider the insult, "You've got a smart mouth. If only there was a spot available for you I'd take great pleasure in making a last longer bet with you but sadly I can't get you in."

Paul was stunned. It sounded like this arrogant bitch wanted to get into a pissing contest with him? Did she know who he was? "Laura there's not a sport or game in the world you could beat me at. Trust me."

"Golf." The reply had arrived so quickly that Paul sensed a trap door opening but he could hardly back down now. That would give her even more satisfaction than actually beating him. He could play golf, not brilliantly but he could play. He was sure to be a bigger hitter than she was. It was obvious that she worked out and she had quite muscular arms for a woman but obviously she was nowhere near his league in terms of power. He convinced himself that she would be easy to beat at golf, "You really want to play golf against me?"

"Standard stroke play, eighteen holes, lowest score wins, a thousand bucks."

This was better than he could have hoped for. She wanted to go eighteen holes and play him for money too. This woman's ego was something else, "A thousand bucks? Are you serious?"

"Always." She offered her hand to shake on the bet. Paul gladly accepted it and stared into her eyes as he did so. For some reason he found himself lost for what to say next and unable to look away plus he was still holding her hand, longer than he should have.

"Are you high or something?" She took her hand back and looked at him as though he was from another planet. He wondered how he must have been looking at her to get that reaction as he fumbled a response, "Sorry, these stupid painkillers."

"Hmmm," she looked at him doubtfully and then ordered, "Head home and pack some things. You're heading out to Raw. You owe me an hour."

"You're sending me home and somehow I owe you time for it?" Paul protested but then gave up, "Whatever."

"Let me know when your knee is strong enough. I want my thousand bucks in cash," Laura chirped before turning and striding quickly away. Paul ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he watched her leave. He ached to go after her, follow her into her office and drill her until she screamed on her desk. He headed for the elevator which Laura had just taken to the top floor. He waited for it to respond to his summons and when he entered it he could still smell her. Was it even normal to lust after women like this? Of course it was, he was a hot blooded alpha male and she was an attractive woman. Perfectly normal.

By the time he had made his way out to the parking lot and realised that he had no car as Stephanie had driven him to work the frustration of everything was getting too much. He needed sex badly, he was becoming obsessed with it. "No, just with Laura. Can't get that fucking woman out of my head," he mumbled with a shake of the aforementioned head as he took out his phone to call for a cab. "Fuck, I need sex." Fortunately no one had answered his call yet. As he waited for a response he reached a decision; once he was done with this call he had another one to make. Stephanie would get her first date tonight and afterwards there would be sex whether the knee hurt or not.

* * *

><p>The traffic was bad as Stephanie drove towards the airport but she did not mind. She was early for her flight and had plenty of time plus it gave her time to think. She was finally happy after all of these years.<p>

Years spent on the road alone wrestling in crappy arenas and gyms, sometimes in front of less than fifty people all in the hope of one day being noticed by someone. Her dream had cost her her friends, her share in the family business and her relationship with her parents. She could not remember the last time she had spoken to either of them. The sad reality was that they hated her for refusing the share in the business, refusing to work there and instead striking out on her own to pursue as dream which they considered stupid. No one would like to admit that they had bad parents but Stephanie had accepted the reality by now and had learned to deal with it.

At least her brother was not like them. Shane had been all she had in life before Paul and she loved him as such. Shane was always there for her, even when she was on the road and felt lonely and sad and called him at ridiculous times of night just to have someone to talk to he had not objected once. His wife Marissa probably felt a little differently but she was a nice, kind woman and Stephanie liked her.

And now there was Paul. For the first time in her life a man loved her. The most amazing man. A man she would be with forever. Nothing was going to change that, she loved him unconditionally and it hurt to be away from him.

One small comfort was that at least she was being allowed to wrestle again. Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing. Technically the traffic was moving so she should not really answer it but at this speed it was fine. She looked at the display and saw it was Paul who was calling. It had to be Paul or Shane really.

"Hey!" She answered excitedly.

"Hi Steph. Listen I'm sorry to ask but can you get me from my condo and take me back to the office again? I had to come home to pack some things because fucking Trish had the idea to make me come to Raw and Smackdown every week and Laura is making me do it."

"Sorry," Stephanie began sadly, "I'm nearly at the airport and the traffic is awful. I'd never get back to your place and back to the airport again in time for my flight. I wish we had known sooner we could have travelled together. Hey, at least we can be with each other more often now."

"Yeah. I'll have to get a cab then. Uh, Steph? I was thinking we could go for a meal tonight, you know, after Raw? Like a date or something?"

"Yay!" Stephanie yelped excitedly, "A date? Oh my god I can't wait."

"Me either. Listen I better call this cab. I'll see you later huh?"

"Can't wait," Stephanie beamed as she ended the call. Paul was the best boyfriend she could imagine. Today was a great day. She knew she would not be able to stop smiling now, not with a date to look forward to with her amazing man.


	24. Chapter 24

The plane was in the air and Paul was on his way to Atlanta for Raw with the rest of the creative team. It may have been against his wishes but he was being made to do it by Laura so it was what it was. Laura. There she was again in his head. The most infuriating woman he had ever met by a large margin, especially lately. Every time he had encountered her since she had fired him from the COO position she had gotten the best of him. Every single god damned time and it was driving him insane. There was only one way to put her in her place and that was to show her who was really the boss.

"Oh Paul, how did I know this would happen?" That was what she had said. Even though it was a week ago he could picture her as though she was standing in front of him right now in that blue dress. That would be so much better than what was actually in front of him which was the back of a seat and the top of some bald guy's head.

"Oh Paul." How badly he would like to make her repeat that over and over as he pounded her. He would pound her and make her beg for more. Her black hair would cascade onto the pillow beneath her. Her stunning green eyes would plead with him. They were good at revealing her emotions and they would reveal her lust for him and then her ecstasy as he filled her like she had never been filled before.

"Oh Paul," she would moan as he looked downwards and saw her chest heaving beneath him as she gasped for breath. Her dark skin would be sweaty and moist to the touch. She would feel warm as he penetrated her.

"Oh Paul," she would gasp over and over until neither of them could take any more. Then she would scream like she had never screamed before as she came. Only when that had happened would he empty his load and that feeling would be the most satisfying in the world. There was no feeling like it. Not just the feeling of fucking a stunningly attractive woman and making her burn so hot that she was desperate for more. No, that was only part of it. If that was all he wanted he had Stephanie ready and waiting whenever he liked. She was fully, ridiculously hot and in her own way she was obsessed with him, that much was obvious.

Unfortunately for Stephanie the best part, the part that really sent him over the edge, the thing that made him obsess like this was the thrill of the chase and the thrill of having a woman that he should not. Previously it had been because he had been married to Trish but now it was even better because not only was he with Stephanie but Laura herself was married. If anything that made it twice as much of a thrill. Plus there was yet another bonus if he fucked Laura, she would belong to him afterwards. He would be able to demand whatever he wanted from her once he held her marriage to ransom. Then she would learn how to play games. She thought that she was the master but she had no idea.

Laura would be the last though. After Laura he would try to make some effort with this thing with Stephanie. She was without doubt the hottest woman he had ever met and she absolutely adored him. How many men could say that? Just fuck Laura, one amazing fuck, and then settle down, that was the plan and it was perfect.

As these thoughts ran through his head he shook it at his own stupidity. Telling himself that one more would be enough was one thing but would it? Would that really be it? He had told himself that before when married to Trish. After he had fucked Chloe from the accounts department he had said it was one off. It would not happen again. Then he had done the same after Brie Bella. She had gotten the treatment after a night in a bar after a house show when Trish had not been on the road with him. She had gone on to start a relationship with Daniel Bryan. That was a joke, how would that little troll compare to him? It was enough to raise a smile.

Then he had gotten the COO position and a secretary to go with it so she had to get it too. Then there had been some total stranger in a bar one night after another house show. He realised that he could not even remember her name but he definitely did remember the piercing she had. It was the first time he had seen one down there before. She had been a real filthy bitch too. She had been his biggest mistake without doubt. If she had known who he was she could have sold the story to anyone she liked but thankfully she had not.

All of those but especially that now nameless woman had been the final time, or so he had told himself but then he had seen Stephanie for the first time and he had been completely blown away by her. He had instantly known for sure that he would have to fuck her. _Have_ to was accurate. There was no way that he could not have done it. She was just so insanely hot. Unlike any of the others or even his next project Laura he had wanted to continue fucking Stephanie. The thrill of the chase and that one amazing pay off fuck had been enough with the others but not Stephanie. Maybe that was some kind of backhanded compliment to her?

The first time he had cheated on Trish, with Chloe he had felt really guilty and considered telling her but with each further occasion the guilt had faded as had his attention to detail in not being caught. That was why he had been stupid enough to let those bitches Naomi and Cameron see him in action and ruin his marriage. He had been so consumed by Stephanie in that bar that he had not even given any thought to it at all.

Despite all of this he reasoned that he was not a total bastard. He had loved Trish deeply at one time it was just that it had faded in a way over time. He had gotten bored of having the same sex with the same woman. In truth he probably never should have accepted her marriage proposal, after all who ever heard of a woman proposing marriage to a man? She had been head over heels in love with him from day one and she had clearly believed without question that they would be together forever.

This was why he was still avoiding his parents, particularly his mother. They had grown to love Trish almost as their own daughter and he just knew that they would be so mad at him for how badly he had hurt her. It was grief that he did not need right now. Suddenly a stab of guilt hit him as a voice in his head reminded him that his parents were right to think that way. He had been a real no good bastard to his wife who had loved him unconditionally and deep down it must still be hurting her. Every time she saw him it must hurt no matter how much she pretended to enjoy tormenting him.

The voice continued to chip away at him, now it asked why if he felt guilty about hurting Trish when she loved him unconditionally was he setting off down the path to do the same to Stephanie? Maybe the voice was right. Maybe he should leave Laura Molinaro to her husband and focus on this thing with Stephanie. It might work out or it might not but he had led her on for a few weeks so far so he should at least try.

This new mindset could start right now if he really got serious about it. He could go find where Trish was sitting and he could apologise. It would not fix what he had done or prevent the divorce that must be close to finalisation but at least it would be a gesture. The voice told him to do it, willed him to do it. It told him that he would feel better about himself afterwards. Count to three and on three just get up and do it, it told him. That was what he did. He stood up and looked around, spotting Trish sitting alone near the back of the cabin. Having to walk slowly due to his injured knee he made his way back there.

Trish noticed his approach and he failed to read her expression as she looked at him, "What is it?" It was almost as if she was deliberately keeping her face neutral.

"Can I sit?"

It became obvious that she had expected some more attitude from him or an argument of some kind rather than an almost softly spoken question. Maybe this was the reason that she granted his request with a hand gesture to the empty seat next to her before repeating, "What is it?"

How to phrase what he wanted to say was the problem that now faced him as he took the offered seat. Trish had continued to face forward which meant that he could not meet her eyes. Therefore he followed her example of facing forwards and took a moment to try to come up with something better than what he had. The effort failed so he had to go with a simple," I just wanted to say that I know I hurt you and I'm sorry."

He had turned to face Trish half way through the sentence and could detect no reaction for a few seconds. He had considered that the most likely responses would be either a slap in the face or to be told to fuck off so he was caught off guard when Trish's bottom lip began to quiver and her voice broke when she replied, "I loved you. You were my world." Tears were already flowing by this point, "You could have stabbed me in the heart and hurt me less than you have."

The total surprise caused Paul blurt out, "You divorced me. The first thing that you said was that you wanted a divorce and then you sat there on the flight back to the office and blanked me the whole way."

It was obvious the Trish was trying to fight the tears but it was a battle that she was hopelessly losing. The pain she been keeping locked up inside of her for weeks was finally getting a release, "I wanted you to fight. To fight for us. I wanted you to plead with me not to do it. I wanted you to tell me that I meant something to you." She sobbed openly now which drew attention from those sitting nearby until Paul fixed them with a menacing stare. Some of what she was saying was tough to understand but the pace at which she spoke did not slow, "I wanted you to say Trish I'm so sorry, I love you and I can't live without you. I wanted you to say those things and to ask for my forgiveness and I would have given it to you but instead you sat there looking pleased with yourself and ignored me."

Paul attempted to cut in but he stood no chance now that he had opened the floodgates both on the tears and on what Trish wanted to say, "You know why I got this job? I went into Molinaro's office and she asked me if what she had been told was true and I fell apart. I was sobbing in front of her and she actually came around her desk and held me. That's when she gave me this trial contract. She didn't give it to me because she thinks I can do it, she gave it to me because she didn't know what else to do to try to stop me from crying."

"You didn't look like you had been crying when you walked out of there," Paul mumbled almost to himself.

"No because she wouldn't let me leave until I had fixed myself up. She said not to give you the satisfaction. Eventually I listened to my mom and dad and to my friends. They were all telling me the same thing; that you are an asshole and I'm better off without you. Hell even your mom told me that. I convinced myself that they were right, I was better off without you but then I went to serve the divorce papers on you and _she_ opened the door. I felt so angry at her, so jealous of her too that I just swung for her. That started me off on you again. I was so jealous that she had you, my husband, the man I love. I didn't want to be without you."

"You damn near knocked her out," Paul chipped in, deliberately changing the subject.

"I expected to get fired for it but Molinaro felt sorry for me. She gave me some story about acting on instinct or something but I know she felt sorry for me. Then she had you come work for me thinking that tormenting you would help me because that's what she would do."

"It's seemed like you've been enjoying it to me."

Trish finally turned to face him and as she wiped at her eyes with a tissue that she had produced from somewhere the hurt that Paul saw in them hurt him too. He could be a real bastard at times, he knew that but he was not heartless. That was the reason that they were having this conversation. He could tell that it took a lot for her next admission to come out. She started to cry again half way through and when Paul heard what she had to say it rocked him, "I've tried to enjoy it believe me but I can't. I love you. I always will no matter what kind of bastard you are."

He had walked over here with the expectation of delivering an apology which would be thrown back in his face with a bunch of abuse and returning to his seat at least feeling a little better about himself but instead he had this. His wife, that was what she still was, was obviously between the lines begging for him to say something that indicated that he still loved her too. To say that he would leave Stephanie. To ask her to take him back. To plead with her to give him another chance. Even after learning what he had done with Stephanie behind her back all she wanted was for him to make the effort to win her back and to commit himself to her.

Minutes before he had been trying to convince himself to commit to Stephanie and now this. Out of the blue he was presented with the choice of his life. He could choose Trish who was still his wife, who obviously loved him so deeply that she would forgive him for cheating on her. He could attempt to rekindle the love that he had once felt for her and this time stay faithful. He really could do it if he wanted to.

Or he could choose Stephanie who he was in a new relationship with. She was also obviously madly in love with him, she was so hot it that was ludicrous and she obviously had a heart of gold. But could he love her in return? He certainly did not love her now, it was way too early in their relationship for that despite what she obviously thought. If he was honest with himself choosing Stephanie was a gamble. He would have walked away from his wife for good and it might end up not working out. If he chose Stephanie he would also have to stay faithful. He could not get into another relationship and then start cheating. Not again.

But there was a third option; Tell Trish that he was sorry but their marriage was over, break this thing off with Stephanie and pursue Laura no matter how long it took until she cracked and let him fuck her. She may be married but he was certain that it would happen eventually. He would get what he was confident would be the best fuck of his life and then he would have a blackmail opportunity to do whatever the hell he wanted at WWE. He would have the boss right where he wanted her. In fact he would be the boss.

There could even be a fourth option to do none of those things but that was dismissed almost instantly. What a decision to make and so little time to make it. Trish was looking at him expectantly, hopefully, waiting for him to say something. But what the hell to say?


	25. Chapter 25

What to say? Paul felt his head spinning as the seconds ticked by with Trish looking at him waiting for a response. Hurriedly he tried to consider his options and make a decision. Every possibility that was available to him certainly had its own unique set of positives but what about the negatives?

If he went back to Trish and they tried to work on their marriage could he actually stay faithful to her? And even if he did would she be able to trust him? Was there any point in a marriage without trust? He could hardly claim to deserve her trust after cheating multiple times. He could try his best not to cheat again but still there would be the trust issue. She only knew about Stephanie too, what if they got back together and then she somehow found out about one or more of the others?

Stephanie certainly had negatives too. The girl was clearly not normal. He had told her countless times that he did not want a relationship but she had practically forced it on him. Was that the kind of thing he wanted in his life regardless of how hot she was? Was she not just some easy yet enjoyable fuck that he could now move on from? No she was a more than that, she was nice girl but nice enough to walk away from his wife for?

What about Laura? Sure, the fuck would almost undoubtedly be amazing and then he could blackmail the bitch and get what he wanted most; get Trish fired and take control of the creative department himself. He loved writing almost as much as wrestling and he really wanted the job that Trish had. Being in charge of creative was what he had enjoyed when he was COO, the talent relations bullshit had just been hassle and stress. If he could take Trish's job that would be perfect for him.

Then it dawned on him. There was another option. It was perfect and there was very little chance that it could go wrong. It would give him exactly what he wanted. He took a moment to think it through again before committing himself. Once he spoke to Trish it would be tough to turn back. Yes, he was happy with what he wanted, finally. Time to put all of these weeks of roller coaster emotions and bullshit behind him.

Behind both of them in fact, "If you really want to make this work then so do I," he said as he looked his wife in the eye. The look he saw in those eyes revealed that while this was what Trish had hoped to hear from him she had certainly not expected to. She was blatantly stunned. When she broke the few seconds of silence she was still almost pleading with him, "Don't say that if you don't mean it."

"I mean it," Paul insisted as he held her gaze, "You're my wife, I love you and I want to make this work. I'm sorry for what I did. If you'll take me back then that's what I want." It was obvious that Trish did want to take him back but he was still not sure what she would say in response.

The plan was brilliant; get back with Trish, talk her into quitting her job then take it for himself. Also he would stay faithful to her in all but one circumstance. If the chance came to fuck Laura he was taking it and the consequences could be damned. It was not a question of wanting to fuck her, that bitch simply needed to be thoroughly and completely fucked until she knew who was the boss. He wanted to see that look, that knowledge in her eyes. He craved for it so badly that it meant that he almost had to do it. So what of Stephanie? Tough shit for her, she should have listened to what she was told. How many times had he told her that he did not want a relationship with her? She would soon find out that he had meant it.

It was Paul's turn to be surprised as Trish did not say anything at all in response to his little speach. Instead she leaned over and kissed him. For the first time in weeks he got to taste his wife, to feel her tongue grazing against his own, to feel her hands against his skin as she held both of his cheeks. Already she had started to make him burn with desire. He had been desperate for sex earlier in the day but he could never have imagined that it would be make up sex with Trish. If he could have taken her right then and there he would have done but sadly there was a plane cabin almost full of people in front of them.

"God I missed you, you're so fucking hot," Paul breathed, "We'll pick this up at the hotel tonight and I don't care how much my knee hurts."

For the first time Trish was able to show genuine concern about the injury, "Is it still that painful? I mean, you're walking on it now."

"Honestly it hasn't hurt anything like as much I expected it to today but I'm supposed to be real careful with it. I don't care though, I just want to get to that hotel already."

Trish was on him again with more kisses and she purred into his ear, "We'll have to upgrade my room."

"Definitely, to the best they have. Food, champagne and sex. Sound good Mrs. Levesque?"

"No, it sounds perfect," Trish whispered into his ear again before another passionate kiss was exchanged.

"Get a room would you?"

The male voice from nearby caused Paul to turn in the direction that it had arrived from. Whoever the young guy was he was nothing to do with WWE so Paul gave him his meanest stare and growled, "How about I put you in a fucking room, in ICU?"

Unsurprisingly this caused the guy to shut his mouth and look away but it had still broken the moment between Paul and Trish. When he turned back to her she was grinning, "I love it when you talk like that."

Paul decided to waste no time in making progress towards what he wanted. Getting back with his wife and saving himself from a ridiculously costly divorce were only two of the reasons for his decision, there was also a third. "Honey, I didn't say anything before for obvious reasons but you do realise that there's only one way taking this job is going to end for you, right?"

"I've been thinking about that too. I would have never admitted it to you before but I'm not enjoying it as much as I always thought I would. It's a lot of stress and I'm not as good at it as I thought I would be. I was thinking about something but I know you'll say I'm crazy."

The image that came into Paul's head was of a baseball being pitched at him. He swung his bat and connected, the ball soared all the way back to the fence. He had just scored a home run. Trish wanted out of the job already without any convincing and he was the ideal replacement. But what was she talking about that was crazy? "What are you talking about?"

Trish looked down and nervously fidgeted with her blouse for a few seconds before mumbling, "I thought about maybe..." She did not complete the sentence.

"What?" Paul was genuinely interested now. This was obviously something big and she was nervous about it. Was she going to walk away from WWE completely? Did she have something else lined up?

"Well, I thought that I might... Come out of retirement."

Wow! That was not at all what Paul had expected. He had told her at the time when she had made the decision to retire and take a job behind the scenes that she was too young and she would miss being in the ring but she had insisted that she was done and that she felt the time was right. Predictably he had been right and now she wanted to get back in the ring. He was pleased for her as wrestling was what she really loved and there was no doubt about the fact that she was the best diva of all time and by some margin too.

They had never had a run together on screen, maybe that could be the new thing. An image came to him of Triple H standing in the ring with the WWE title with his wife standing next to him with the Divas title. It was an image that he liked and if he was going to be Head of Creative it was something that he could make a reality. There was only one problem standing in the way of all of this and Trish was clearly thinking the same thing.

"We need to talk to Laura when she shows up tonight."

Paul smiled as he imagined the reaction that today's news would generate. When he walked into Laura's office with Trish she would be expecting to hear anything but what she would hear. That was something else to look forward to. Then his mind moved on to something else, he was going to have to blow Stephanie off tonight too. He had promised her a date and that was obviously not going to happen now. It was not going to be pleasant to hurt her feelings but at the end of the day why should he care? He had what he wanted and that was what mattered. Stephanie should have listened to what she was told and left him alone, she had no one to blame but herself.

* * *

><p>Typically Laura Molinaro was not in a good mood when she arrived at the arena for Raw. As if flying was not bad enough the limo driver had not been there waiting for her arrival as instructed. An explosion on the phone had hurried him up but still she had needed to stand and wait for five minutes. There was nothing as irritating as the incompetence of others and it had to be dealt with so often.<p>

Luckily she always made a point to arrive early at the arena therefore there was time to sit down and take a few minutes to cool off before having to deal with more people. That had been the plan at least but she had not even had time to take her jacket off after entering her office when there was a knock on the door. "Yes?" Whoever the person was with the bad timing would know already that it was not appreciated by her angry tone.

Paul and Trish walked in as Laura threw her jacket over the back of her chair. Without pause she growled at the two intruders, "I'm warning the two of you right now that if you're coming in here to start raging at each other I'll probably... Wait a minute, what's going on?" Paul and Trish were holding hands.

The look on the boss' face was priceless as Paul had imagined that it would be. Mrs know it all was confused. Before he could think of some amusingly arrogant response Trish had already started to answer the question.

"We had a talk earlier and we're back together. We're going to work things out and we couldn't be happier. Right?"

Trish had looked at Paul with a huge smile and he responded with one of his own, "Right. But we need to talk to you about a couple of things too."

"What things?" Laura demanded, still with the confused look on her face as she sat down on the expensive leather couch that she insisted be placed in her office each week. No offer was extended for either of the visitors to sit so Paul wasted no time and jumped in at the deep end, "Trish wants to quit the office and return to the ring and I want her job." He watched as Laura's eyes narrowed and she shook her head slightly as if she suspected that she might be imagining what she was hearing.

"I know I promised you I wouldn't let you down but I just miss being in the ring."

Laura had raised a hand almost defensively to stop Trish from rambling. "Let me get this right. This morning I was standing in the doorway to your office Trish and the two of you were going at each other tooth and nail but now a few hours later you're telling me that you're back together? Not only that you want to quit your job and not only that you want to come out of retirement too? That is what you're telling me?"

"Yes, that's right," Trish confirmed with a smile that she hoped would remove some of the tension that she felt building up in the office."

"And you Paul," Laura shifted target, "Think that because Trish may or may not resign her position I'm automatically going to hand it to you?"

Ordinarily pissing Laura off or drawing a reaction was top priority for Paul but not right now. Now he needed to get what he wanted so it was time to speak respectfully to the woman for once, "Automatically? No. I'm hoping that you'll offer the job to me because we both know that I'm good at it. I'm one of the best writers we have and I'm good at managing people. The guys respect me and will work well under me and you know that as well as I do. This is not a personal decision, this is a business decision and with me in charge of creative our ratings will be the best they can be."

The cogs were turning in Laura's head as she sat in silence for a few moments, this much was obvious. Paul figured that his pre planned routine had done the trick as she had not immediately fired back at him angrily or with any kind of counter argument. He felt Trish squeeze his hand a little tighter, clearly feeling nervous. It was understandable but Paul knew that this time he had gotten the best of Laura. She was going to give both himself and his wife what they wanted.

He was right as a few moments later Laura slightly nodded her head a couple of times and then cleared her throat, "I have to admit that what you both say makes sense. I don't care about your marriage situation but business wise Trish Stratus back in the ring and Paul Levesque as Head of Creative sounds good to me. I'll go for it but if either of you let me down in any way you will be the ones who regret this conversation taking place, not me. Am I clear on that?"

"Crystal," Paul confirmed, "When do I start?"

"What's the point in hanging around? Let's all go crazy. You can start now. Get to the creative office both of you and talk to your people. Trish I want you back in training from tomorrow. You don't look in good enough shape to wrestle to me."

Paul smirked as he looked at his wife and took in the embarrassed look on her face at Laura's frank but rude comment. "She looks great to me," he chirped.

A look of distaste appeared on Laura's face, "Out, both of you. And find someone who can get some decent coffee in here yesterday."

Paul turned to leave as ordered, happy to have gotten what he wanted so easily but Trish spoke to Laura, "One more thing. That poker thing Thursday, I'd like Paul to be there if he can?"

Instantly he remembered, this was what had led to the golf bet. Laura had mentioned this poker thing and then she had wanted to get into a pissing contest with him but she had said that there were no places available for him to join them. It was a real shame as busting her ass out of a game of poker would be very satisfying. As he looked at her now she seemed to brighten at the prospect of a confrontation herself.

"Actually I did get a cancellation earlier. There's a spot you can have if you like Paul. Also we talked about a last longer bet if memory serves?" She still wanted to do it. She actually wanted to make that bet. This was too good to miss. "I'll play and I'll make that bet. A thousand bucks the same as the golf?"

Laura stood and laughed as she offered her hand as she had before, "You sure like to give money away easily."

The handshake was appropriately brief this time and Paul hoped that the arrogant smirk he gave conveyed all that he needed it to. There might be some remote possibility that Laura would beat him at golf if she was really good but poker? No chance. Laura returned the smirk and Paul knew that he had been correct in his suspicions, she did enjoy this gamesmanship as much as he did. It was hardly surprising as recently she had consistently gotten the upper hand but that would soon stop. Very soon. He forced himself to look away from her.

Trish had made her way to the door so Paul followed her out of the office without a further word. When they were outside in the hallway Trish giggled, "You made two bets with her? You'd better win or she'll never let you forget it."

"I will win and I'll never let her forget it." They began walking along the hallway and Trish took his hand again as he continued speaking, "Listen Trish, can you go speak to the team? They're still your guys until they get told otherwise so you should inform them that you're stepping down and that I'm in charge. It would seem like Laura fired you if I went in there and made the announcement regardless of what I actually said."

"Sure, if that's what you think is best. Paul? What about McMahon?"

Paul grimaced at the way Trish spat out Stephanie's surname, "I was just coming to that. While you tell the guys what's going on I'll go put Stephanie in the picture." With a grin he added, "Believe it or not that day when you came to my place and smacked her in the face I had been trying to get rid of her all day." It was a lie but it was close enough to the truth for Paul and it would sound good with Trish. Apart from the fact that apparently she did not believe him.

"Bullshit." The accusation had been delivered with a hint of humor but it was definitely a serious accusation.

"It's true. I told her so many times that I didn't want her to keep coming over to the condo but she wouldn't listen. I don't think she's the full ticket to be honest. Anyway I'm going to tell her that we're back together."

Whether or not Trish now believed his story was unclear but she was plainly happy to have reclaimed her man from Stephanie as there was a satisfied smile on her face. Paul attempted to turn left into a different hallway, towards where the locker rooms were but Trish retained her grip on his hand. He turned back to her and she looked up at him before faking sadness, "Paul, do I look like I'm in bad shape?"

Paul smirked again and refused to give the obvious answer, "I don't know. I'll have to make a thorough inspection later tonight and get back to you on that."

Trish pulled him down towards her with the front of his shirt and again they shared a long and passionate kiss. As before Paul wanted to take her then and there. It felt as though if anything this break in their marriage had done it some good as he had not desired Trish so much for a very long time. He had only fleetingly though about fucking Laura when he had been in the office with her which was quite an achievement and now he was going to break off this half assed so called relationship with Stephanie. Yes, he had made the correct decision for sure.


	26. Chapter 26

"Triple H is outside asking for you."

The words AJ spoke as she entered the locker room were the words that Stephanie had been waiting to hear. They were even delivered kindly, AJ seemed to be the only diva who did not speak to Stephanie as though she was a piece of shit that they had just accidentally stepped on. The jealousy in this place really was embarrassing, just because she was in a relationship with Paul these bitches felt the need to treat her like crap. Well they could get on with it, Stephanie did not care about them or their stupid opinions. The man waiting outside was all that mattered to her. She stood from the bench that she had been sitting on and hurried over to the door. She had made sure to change into her ring gear earlier than she usually would as she knew how much Paul liked to see her in it. He had certainly made no secret of that.

With a warm smile she walked out of the door and greeted her boyfriend excitedly, "Hey! I know you're not thrilled about it but I'm really glad that you're here. I can't wait for tonight." It was only then that she picked up on something in the expression on his face. Something was wrong. Her first instinct was that he had somehow injured his knee again. "What is it? Are you okay?"

"Stephanie there's no easy way to say this so I'm just going to say it. Trish and I got to talking on the flight out here and we've decided to work on our marriage, we're back together. I'm sorry but this thing, whatever it is, is over."

It felt to Stephanie like Paul had taken his trademark sledgehammer and smashed her in the gut with it. Why would he do this? Why would he possibly go back to Trish? It was obvious that he did not love her, that he loved Stephanie instead and yet he was now trying to break the relationship off. She was stunned but she was not going to take this lying down. "What are you talking about?" She demanded angrily, "Trish? You don't love Trish and we both know it. Why would you go back to her?" If she had not been hurt enough by the previous statement the next one certainly did the job, as much with the cold and offhanded way that it was delivered as with the actual words that were spoken, "Look, I'm not discussing it with you, I'm telling you. I'm back with Trish so it's over."

Paul registered the expression on Stephanie's face and realised that he had hurt her but he had already known that would happen. Before she could respond he turned and walked away slowly due to his knee injury but Stephanie was apparently not done. She yelled from behind him, her voice a mixture of pain and anger, "You'll end up a lonely, miserable bastard and you'll come back to me but when you do my answer will be no! You're a no good asshole and I hate you!" He made no attempt to turn around or to respond to Stephanie in any way. What was she, a kid? You'll come back to me? I hate you? Who actually said things like that? Whatever, he was back with Trish so what did he care what Stephanie's opinion was anyway? She could go ahead and hate him if that made her feel better.

As she watched him walk away Stephanie willed her eyes not to fill with tears but they ignored her. The man she loved, who she had been convinced loved her, had just torn her heart out and thrown it in the trash without a care in the world. He was not the man that she had thought he was, he was the man that Shane had told her that he could be, a good for nothing bastard. Shane had warned her about getting involved with a married man and told her what a bad idea it was and he had been right all along. She had avoided telling Shane who the married man was that she was seeing as that would only lead to another lecture about dating people who she worked with but the bottom line was that Shane had told her that whoever this man was he was married and there was a likelihood that he would go back to his wife and Stephanie would be the one to get hurt. She had convinced herself that Shane was wrong, maybe some people would be like that but not Paul. How wrong, how terribly wrong she had been.

This was a cruel lesson that she would learn from. Not only had Shane been right but so had her parents. She was naïve and she needed to grow up and today was the shock that she had needed to drive that realisation home. She had meant with absolute conviction what she had yelled at Paul as he walked away from her, if he had the nerve to come back to her when his so called marriage fell apart as it inevitably would he would get the response he deserved. She would tell him to his face that he could fuck himself. None of this new found determination took the pain away that she felt right at that moment however and it only got worse as she returned to the locker room.

The two women she hated most in the locker room were in there, those stupid Bella bitches and they must have guessed from her expression what had just taken place in the hallway. "Awww, not the golden girl any more huh? What a shame." The sarcastic, condescending tone Brie used grated on Stephanie's nerves like nothing she could remember and her blood boiled over. Apparently the divas had figured that despite her size Stephanie was an easy target for bullying as the reaction Brie got obviously took everyone by surprise. Stephanie stormed over to the smaller woman who had decided to run her mouth and slapped the taste out of it for her, the sound reverberating around the locker room as Brie's head snapped sideways with the impact.

Nikki was quick to jump up to defend her sister but Stephanie growled, "I wouldn't. Touch me right now and you're going to get fucking hurt." The warning was taken seriously and Nikki instead tended to her sister as Stephanie stormed out of the locker room and slammed the door behind her. She had no where else to go, no one to turn to for comfort so she walked along the hallway heading no where in particular with tears born from both heartbreak and rage making their way down her cheeks.

Unaware of any of this, not that he would have cared if he was, Paul had decided to have some fun before he joined Trish in the creative office. He had been given the job he wanted now so there was no down side that he could think of to what he intended to do and it always had an obvious up side. He intended to go to Laura Molinaro's office and try to piss her off. She had been rude to Trish and also rudely ordered that they should find someone to take coffee to her office so he would do it himself and when he did so he would find some way to push her buttons. She had clearly been in a bad mood already so it would not be difficult. It never was with her the crazy bitch.

Ten minutes of peace and quiet was usually the minimum requirement that Laura needed to cool off from one of her bad moods and today was no exception. She had taken her seat behind her desk and booted up her laptop and then sat with her forehead propped on one hand as she felt the anger slowly bleeding out of her. She had always had a very short fuse but lately it was getting to be something else. It had of course been obvious that taking charge of WWE would be difficult when her father had offered her the opportunity but to begin with it had almost been plain sailing. Then she had for some reason decided to order the creative team to write her onto the show regularly even though she absolutely detested travelling, flying in particular. Private jet or not it was just an experience that she despised, she always had done. Ego, that was the reason. She was honest enough to admit that to herself if not to anyone else. There was nothing quite like the feeling that she got when an arena full of fifteen thousand people exploded at the mention of her name or the sound of her entrance music. She was not sure what the reason was but she always got some of the biggest reactions and it was incredible.

Thinking about the word ego brought another image into her mind. Paul Levesque the arrogant son of a bitch. The one person who undoubtedly had an ego bigger than her own. She had never met anyone like the man in her life. He possessed every negative quality that a person could possess and yet women seemed to find him attractive for some reason. Stephanie McMahon certainly did. Trish Levesque, that was now the appropriate name again apparently, clearly did as she had forgiven him for the unforgivable. What was it about the man that drew them to him? Maybe it was only when she was around him that his overbearing arrogance and lack of respect came to the fore? Even though she undoubtedly disliked the guy she had to admit that she enjoyed the way that he stood up to her. No one else that she had ever employed in any of her businesses had possessed the balls to do that and at times she had considered that to be a shame. The gamesmanship with Paul was entertaining, especially as she consistently got the upper hand over him. What bothered her was the way that Paul had looked at her that day as they shook hands on the golf bet. It did not require an expert to figure out that there had been lust in his eyes. Paul Levesque at that moment had wanted to kiss her, there was no doubt in her mind about it. What bothered her even more was that although she had dismissed it with a sarcastic question as she had walked away a part of her had wondered what it would have been like if he had done it. There was no conceivable reason that she should have thought that, she was very happily married and she did not even like Paul Levesque physically or as a person but nonetheless she had thought it.

At that moment her office door opened without a knock with almost triggered an instant explosion as Laura looked up but she resisted as she saw who had walked in. She would not give him the satisfaction of a victory that easily considering that it had obviously been the reason for the lack of manners. Paul Levesque had walked in carrying a cup of coffee. "I don't have a time machine so I couldn't manage to bring it yesterday as you asked," he quipped.

As he set the cup of coffee down on the desk Paul was disappointed. Not only had barging into the office not generated an angry reaction neither had his sarcasm. Instead Laura looked at the coffee cup as though it was some foreign object that she did not recognise and then she looked up at him. As usual he was sucked in to looking into those green eyes, the most beautiful and expressive eyes he had ever seen without question. His mind froze for a second. No. No way. He could not have seen what he thought he had just seen. Not even for that half second. It was not possible. Was it? Still she had not said anything, way too long for it to be normal. He could not believe it, it was actually true. Briefly, incredibly briefly he had seen it. Laura desired him. "Have you had a stroke or forgotten how to speak?" He decided to pretend that he had not seen it, continue with his usual sarcasm and see what would happen next.

Still Laura had not said anything. Instead she stood and walked around the desk. She had those stupid suit pants on again but the top of her blouse was unbuttoned and that necklace was there again with the angel dangling precariously above the promised land. What was she doing? She was walking up to him that was what she was doing. He could not believe what he was seeing, was Laura about to kiss him? He willed it to be true but she stopped in front of him, so close that her perfume wafted into his nostrils and began to arouse him even more. Her voice was nothing more than a whisper as she looked him in the eye, "You wanted to kiss me that day in the hallway didn't you Paul?"

Holy shit! What was this? And how to answer? With the truth seemed to be the obvious answer but should he really put his cards on the table? Fuck it, why not? She had asked the question so it was time to go big or go home, "Yes but I don't just want to kiss you, I want to fuck your brains out. You're fucking beautiful."

Laura leaned into him, she was going to kiss him, he was going to fuck her right here and now in the office, but no. Just as their lips where about to make contact she moved and instead her mouth ended up next to his ear. "You wouldn't know what to do with a woman like me Paul. Now get out," she whispered into it. Unsurprisingly Paul did not immediately obey her order. Instead he gently stroked some of the amazing jet black hair away from the side of her face and assured her, "One day we'll find out." Only then did he walk out and close the door quietly. As he did so Laura stood with one trembling hand covering her mouth. "What the fuck was that?" She mumbled into it, "You're married you stupid bitch." Why had she felt the need to tease Paul, to lead him along like that? He would be walking away along the hallway now thinking about her, thinking about both of them together and she most definitely did not want that. At least she would tell herself that.

Of course Laura was correct, as Paul walked towards the creative office he was imagining himself destroying Laura as he now knew for sure that he would one day. 'You wouldn't know what to do with a woman like me.' Did she know who he was? He knew exactly what to do with her. He would hold her down so that she was powerless to resist him, make her beg for him to penetrate her and then he would fuck her until she could take no more and she screamed like she had never screamed in her life. That was what he would do with her. He had no intention of waiting for Laura though, he needed sex desperately and Trish would be wanting it too. When they got to the hotel later she was going to get destroyed much as Laura would do when the time came.

Two minutes later he walked into the creative office and saw that Trish must have finished giving the team the news that she had stepped down from her position as she was casually chatting to a few of the guys rather than addressing them all as a group. Paul greeted his new staff briefly before asking to speak to his wife in private outside of the office. As she walked past him and he followed her out of the room he took pleasure in looking at her tight ass. He knew exactly what it felt like to fuck her in it and it made him begin to harden. The next few hours were going to drag by so slowly until they got to the hotel.

"What is it honey?" Trish asked at the office door closed behind Paul.

"This." Paul leaned down to his wife and kissed her long and deep, savouring the taste of her again. "I can't believe how much I missed you. Damn, I just want to get to that hotel room already."

Trish's fingers ran delicately over his suit pants, over his growing erection as she purred, "Easy tiger. It's only a few hours from now."

It had been weeks since the last time that Paul had been with a woman, with Stephanie, therefore even Trish's delicate touch over his pants turned him on much more than it ordinarily would have. He lifted Trish's chin and held it in place so that she was forced to look up at him as he gruffly demanded, "I want you now. I don't care where. Let's find somewhere."

Now it was Trish's turn to drive him insane. She made no attempt to look away from his eyes but she shook her head slightly, "Oh no. You can wait." Paul genuinely wondered about the accuracy of the statement. Could he wait? Unfortunately there was no real choice short of heading to the men's room and beating one off but he definitely was not going to do that. "I'm going to fucking pound you Trish, you do know that?"

Her eyes remained looked on his and she knew what he liked most, what would leave him even more desperate for later. He liked to be dominant, to feel powerful, to feel in control during sex. "Just don't hurt me," she whispered pleadingly.

"No promises," Paul told her before releasing her and heading back into the office. It was almost impossible to direct the team throughout the night as his thoughts were dominated by Trish and by Laura. This was one of the best days of his life; Trish wanted him back, had taken him back in fact and soon he would be fucking the life out of her, he had avoided the ridiculous divorce, taken control of the creative department and learned that Laura wanted to fuck him too, all in the space of a few hours. Life was incredible sometimes.

At the opposite end of the emotional scale was the young woman sitting in the women's bathroom as that was the only place she had been able to think of to go where she could sit and cry alone without anyone making things worse. Stephanie figured that she would never be able to feel worse than she did right at that moment. She was wrong.


	27. Chapter 27

The evening started off with exactly the kind of surprise that Paul liked. Trish had told him to take a shower and she would change into something more comfortable while he was in there. As he emerged from the bathroom dressed only in his boxers he saw that what she had meant was she would undress down to her black bra and thong. "So do I look in good shape?" She purred in her soft Canadian accent, referring to Laura's almost insult from earlier.

As Paul stared at his wife he wondered why the hell he had ever wanted to be with anyone else, she was crazy hot and she was a great fuck. He must have been crazy that was the only possible answer. If, no, when Laura got what was coming to her she would be the last time he cheated. It had to stop. "Good shape? You're fucking stunning," he assured her honestly. As he walked over to her Trish removed her bra and dropped it to the floor, making sure that her eyes remained locked with those of her husband, "How about now?" It felt to Paul like there was a real possibility of his balls bursting. Trish had such amazing tits that it was almost inconceivable. She had made him wait all evening but he would be damned if he was going to wait any longer. She was getting fucked and she was getting fucked right now, no bullshit, just fucked.

"Even better," he managed to confirm before picking Trish up and almost tossing her onto the bed. Trish knew well that her husband could be a selfish lover at times especially when he was as desperate for sex as he was tonight so she expected no foreplay and sure enough she was right. "Are you ready?" He demanded gruffly as he climbed onto the bed. "Yes," Trish almost whispered but as she did so the thought came to her that undoubtedly multiple times Stephanie McMahon had been in this position with her husband in various hotel rooms. Her husband who she loved with everything she was had been with another woman and although she had promised both him and herself that she could work on their marriage and try to forgive him the heartbreak and the hurt that he had caused her was still very real and it now came flooding back to her as her husband entered her. The experience had already gone from pleasurable to painful for Trish but for some reason she could not bring herself to reject him.

None of this was even close to Paul's mind as he forced his way into his wife's warmth and wetness and began to fuck her. At last after such a long wait he was fucking Trish and it felt amazing. His thrusts were almost immediately powerful and he began grunting with the effort as he began to drill her as hard as he could. Trish began gasping in what he assumed to be pleasure as well she should with his huge and rock hard length hammering into her, however something was different about this experience compared to what Paul had expected from his wife. She knew what he liked but she was not complying. She was supposed to be moaning and either begging him to fuck her harder or to stop hurting her. Either one would send him that little bit further over the edge but no, she was just lying there, panting and taking the thorough fucking that he was issuing.

If she had been on real top form she would have tried to fight him a little but there was none of that so he continued to pound away, graciously deciding to allow her to come before he did so himself, if she hurried up. He was not going to be able to hold himself much longer. He was confused as to what Trish was doing as he could feel her approaching her climax beneath him but she had covered her face with her hands. The loud moans she let out sounded strange too as she came but all Paul cared about was that he had done more than enough to satisfy her and now was time for his own release at long last. With a final huge grunt and a loud groan he unleashed a tidal wave into Trish that took several thrusts to deliver completely such was its intensity. As he pulled out of her he brushed some of his long hair away from his face and tried to regain his breath as he looked down at his wife. What the hell was her problem? The fuck had been great of course but her performance was a little strange and below par if he was honest. She had not done any of the things that he liked most as he had expected her to after such a long time apart. Then it finally sank in. Trish was crying into her hands as they covered her face. "What's wrong with you?" The question was born from confusion rather than sympathy and it seemed to worsen whatever the problem was although no answer arrived. Paul pulled one of Trish's hands from her face, "What the fuck?"

Trish angrily shoved him away and sat up on the edge of the bed, still crying, "You cheated on me Paul. How could you? How could you?" Her voice had grown more heartbroken with each word. Paul realised that this was not a time for an arrogant attitude and had to ignore his first instinct which was to angrily remind Trish that she had said that she would put this behind them or his second instinct which was ask why she had let him continue to fuck her when she was crying, that seemed kind of strange. So what should he say? Whatever he went with the night of passion that he had imagined was plainly not going to happen. At least he had fucked Trish and managed to unload himself but he had wanted it many times tonight not just once. Oh well, it was time to try to sound sympathetic or something.

The arm that wrapped around Trish and the kindly spoken words soothed her fractionally. "I'm sorry baby. Really I am. I've already told you that and how much I love you and how much I missed you. You're my wife and no one else could ever mean anything to me. Look at me." Trish looked at her husband and wished that she did not feel the way that she did. She loved him to no end and all she wanted was to be with him and be happy but the thought of him with another woman just hurt so badly. "I love you too," she managed to say, "and I want to get past this but the thought of you with her hurts so much."

"I've apologised honey, and I swear that it won't happen again. There's not much else I can do."

"I know," Trish mumbled as she stood from the bed and walked over to pick up her discarded bra, "I guess it's just going to take me some time."

The bra had been picked up and put back on and the sight of the incredible tits disappeared as did Paul's hopes of any further action. Trish wanted time? He could give her time. He wanted to be with her and if it meant giving her time then so be it. He had made the conscious decision to choose to be with her and he would stick to it. He told himself to stop constantly thinking about sex and to actually make an effort to fix his marriage. He expected Trish to try so he should at least try himself. When they were back on track he could have all of the sex that he wanted with her. His knee was hurting anyway. "How about we order some real nice food then, on room service? Or we can go out to eat somewhere?"

"Let's order in." Trish returned to the bed without putting any more clothes on for the moment. Paul leaning against the end of the bed, propped up on the pillows and had made no attempt to dress himself either. Trish lay next to him and rested her head on the arm that he wrapped around her shoulders. There was still a great view of those tits. How was he ever supposed to stop thinking about sex with these hot women around him all of the time? Hot women that wanted him too. Trish and Laura.

Laura.

Her voice came back to him. He could hear it as if she was in front of him right now.

"Oh Paul."

"You wouldn't know what to do with a woman like me Paul."

The way she had whispered it directly into his ear drove him crazy.

"You wouldn't know what to do with a woman like me Paul."

He had to fuck Laura. He just had to. He craved it like nothing before. What would those beautiful eyes look like as he did it? He hoped that Trish thought that the erection he had just gotten which was plainly obvious under his boxers was due to the sight of her in her underwear.

* * *

><p>"You look great," Paul told himself as he looked in the mirror at his black suit pants and dark grey shirt. He had not intended to speak the words aloud but a second later he was glad that he had.<p>

"Thank you. You do too," Trish grinned as she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his stomach. Paul admitted to himself that his compliment could have been directed to her just as easily as himself. The black dress that she wore complimented her figure perfectly. He saw Trish look around his huge frame so that she could look into the mirror too and a beautiful smile appeared on her face. "We should get a photo together," she suggested happily.

"Sure. We'll get someone to do it when we get downstairs." Paul's attention was already on the poker tournament that was about to start. "Do you need me to tell you the hand rankings again?"

Trish giggled, "I told you before, I know how to play I'm just not good at it. I don't care anyway we've paid our money which means we've done our bit for the charity. That's what matters." She released the hold she had on her husband to make a last minute adjustment to her hair as he insisted, "No it's not. Winning that bet with Laura is what matters. I have to last longer than she does, that's what matters."

"You're really taking this seriously huh?" Trish looked at him as if she found the competitiveness a little strange.

"What, you think she isn't?" Paul snorted, "I don't care about the thousand bucks, it's the smug look on her face that I can't bear to think about. You know what that bitch's ego is like. Let's get down there, I want to speak to the rest of our group before she does. She's called everyone together in the lobby before this thing starts."

Trish giggled again, "You know part of me hopes that she beats you, just to see your face."

"Thanks honey," Paul groaned sarcastically as he held the hotel room door open for her to lead the way out. He glanced back at the huge suite, the rooms in the casino's hotel were very expensive but Laura had not offered to pay for it. Apparently she considering organising the flight for all of the fifteen or so people from WWE who were attending to get here had been enough. Oh well, the thousand bucks would cover it when he won it from her. He wanted to smirk at her as she handed it over so badly. Maybe she would have the expression on her face that he had taken to calling the drinking a cup of warm piss expression? He could still picture it right now. That day was great.

Two minutes later Paul and Trish walked into the lobby with their arms linked. This was one of the best things about being married to Trish, she was so stunningly hot that everyone noticed them and the guys always looked jealous especially the ones with fat or ugly wives next to them. Paul looked around at the people who were assembled and saw that himself and Trish were the last two to arrive aside from Laura. He saw Brie Bella chatting away happily to Daniel Bryan and remembered what Brie had looked like when he had been pounding her. There was no way that Bryan could hammer her like that. Next to them were John Cena and Brie's sister Nikki. He had never had the chance to even come close to fucking Nikki. Even though she was hotter than Brie and he definitely would have taken the chance if it had presented itself she was in love with Cena. It was what it was, there was not going to be a chance to fuck every single hot woman on the planet was there? It was time to stop looking at the women and make the announcement that he had to make before it was too late.

"Right, listen up all of you," He began loudly and rather rudely but even so everyone directed their attention to him, "Before Molinaro gets down here and starts running her mouth you should know this. We've made a bet for a thousand bucks on who lasts longer between the two of us. I'll give two hundred of it to anyone here who busts her ass so go get her."

Some amused grins were exchanged and Trish laughed at him, "You're something else, you know that?"

Paul did not respond as he had seen who had walked out of the elevator. Laura and her husband were walking over but what the fuck was she wearing? Or rather why was she wearing what she was wearing? Jeans and a white sports jacket with an Italy badge on the left side of the chest and a Puma logo on the right side. Clearly it was the jacket that a soccer team or something would wear and she was carrying a white cap in her hand too. Despite the unconventional choice of attire she looked insanely hot. Her hair was in a ponytail, it was the first time he had seen that for sure and he liked it. It would be great to yank on that while fucking her in the ass. The image ran through his mind as Laura approached and then addressed the group pleasantly, differently to the way she spoke when backstage for sure, "Good evening everyone. I want to thank all of you for coming and for the money you have donated for this important cause. With that said there are sixteen of us from WWE including myself and I expect one of us to take this thing down, if it's not me then it needs to be one of you. Understood?" Everyone nodded or mumbled agreement but then Laura added, "Oh and if anyone busts Paul over there before I go out myself I'll consider it a personal favour. That's all."

The woman whose arm was linked with Paul's own was now totally forgotten about as he watched Laura intently. He was lost on her. She was saying something to her husband as the rest of the group made their way into the room where the game would take place but then she looked over at him and smiled and that familiar gleam was in her eyes. The battle lines were drawn. There was no way he could lose. It was unimaginable.

"Come on," Trish urged as she unlinked her arm headed after the rest of group. "Just let me be on the same table as her, please," Paul mumbled.


	28. Chapter 28

"I'm out Paul."

Sadly the female voice which spoke the words from behind him had a Canadian accent. Paul was not involved in a hand so he stood and issued his wife with a sympathetic hug, "Well we knew that was going to happen huh? What are you going to do now?"

"Might go back upstairs and take a shower," Trish teased, "And then go to bed. If you get knocked out soon enough we could fool around."

"We can fool around no matter when I get knocked out, if I get knocked out. I've got a decent stack here."

"That's true." Trish's fingers rubbed over his pants briefly, hidden from sight of anyone else by both of their bodies.

Paul kissed her, "Get out of here, you're ruining my concentration. You can do that later."

"Get back to it, you'll miss your hand." With a smile Trish turned and walked away leaving Paul once again trying to force himself not to think about sex and instead attempt to focus on the game. It was going well so far as he had won a few big pots and had one of the biggest chip stacks on the table. Unfortunately things began to change over the next hour. Paul found himself losing chips and could not seem to do anything about it. The cards seemed to be against him. It was obviously Trish's fault for breaking his concentration when he had been on a roll. He had stood up a few times to check that Laura was still playing and sure enough she was. He could not see how many chips she had as her back was to him but he saw all that mattered, she was still there. God only knew what kind of idiots must be on her table if they had not managed to bust her yet.

"This is my seat?" Paul heard a familiar voice ask half an hour later, "Excellent. Hello Paul, gentlemen." Paul looked up and saw that Laura had been moved to his table, her own must have broken up due to eliminations. She was taking her chips out a plastic tray that she must have been given to move them with and stacking them on the table and he saw that she had considerably more than he did. The possibility of actually getting eliminated by Laura was staring him in the face. It would be preferable to shoot himself in the head. "Nice of you to dress for the occasion," he quipped as she took her seat almost opposite him at the other end of the table, referring to her jeans and white sports jacket.

"I'm dressed to play not to impress, maybe you should have considered it? Where are your chips?"

By gesturing to his stack Paul fell into the trap as he stated the obvious, "Here."

"Yeah I meant the rest of them," Laura clarified sarcastically. "Wait, you're telling me that's all you have?"

Some of the other players at the table were grinning which pissed Paul off almost as much as the sarcasm. He silently asked the heavens to just let him bust Laura. That was all that he wanted. Surely it was not too much to ask? Or at least for her to go out before him somehow. Any woman speaking to him with such arrogance and sarcasm would drive him crazy but it seemed to be something else entirely with this bitch. She needed putting in her place so badly and the only way to do that appeared to be to fuck her half to death and make him beg her for more. He wanted to have her totally under his control and he wanted her to never forget that she had been. But when would the chance come? Certainly not tonight because Trish and her husband were here. Monday nights were not even an option because she would always clear out early and fly home rather than staying in the hotel. Had she really been showing an interest Monday night in her office or simply toying with him? Either way it made his balls ache just to look at her as she sat talking to the old guy sitting next to her.

Ten minutes later Paul tried his best not to react. Laura had raised and then the rest of the table had folded around to him. When he looked at his cards he saw two kings. Perfect. Laura was fucked, he was going to double up through her in this hand, he felt it for sure. It was the first time she had played a hand on this table and he happened to get kings. It could not be better because the stupid woman would assume that he was playing against her regardless of what he had just to be a hero, the kind of thing that she would do. To make himself not appear too strong he only called her bet instead of making a raise of his own. The guy who acted after him also folded so Laura was the only person he had to play against. As he waited for the first three community cards to come out on the table he tried to study his opponent but she had changed the way that she was sitting and now the reason that she was wearing a cap became apparent. She sat with her head propped on both fists which covered her mouth and cheeks and the cap kept her eyes which would reveal so much hidden from him. It was totally impossible to read anything from her but he did not need to as the cards hit the table, seven, king, seven. A real Hollywood hand for him, a full house. Laura was dog food as long as she had something that she could bet with.

She took a few seconds to think and then checked, which meant that the action went to Paul without any chips going into the pot. Still attempting to look weak and keep his fish on the hook Paul checked also. Another card hit the board. A four. It was a shame that there was not possibility of a flush for Laura but hopefully she had something. Sure enough after another long moment of thinking time she carefully threw in some chips for a raise. This was his time to act. He could really suck her in if he made a very large bet which would make her think that he was trying to force her out of the hand because he had nothing. It was perfect. He raised over half of the total amount in the pot and immediately got a reaction. The cap was off and Laura stared at him. "Why so much?" She demanded of him in an attempt to make him talk.

Unsurprisingly Paul ignored the question as he silently begged Laura's huge ego to get the better of her and cause her to raise him all in. "Give me a minute here." Good, confusion in her voice. Another thirty seconds went by, "My head is spinning. Why so much?" Paul began to doubt that she was going to continue. Maybe she had been playing with nothing and hoping to outplay him. No chance of that happening. Still he waited on a decision, willing Laura to reach for her chips as much as he possibly could. "What the hell is going on here? I don't even know any more," she turned over her cards which meant that she folded and Paul could not believe what he saw. She had folded an ace and a king. "Come on, that has got to be good, right?" She demanded again. Paul was so stunned by the play that he actually tossed his cards in face up so that Laura could see what an amazing fold she had made. How the hell had she gotten out of that spot? He should have doubled up for sure.

"Yes!" She yelled and she was up out of her chair. Everyone else at the table looked impressed with what she had done as she arrogantly mouthed off, "You think I didn't know you had a full house? No one else in this room could fold there. Don't try to make a move on me, any of you. That's what you're up against right there. I'll bust all of your asses."

Paul shook his head as Laura took her seat again. This woman was something else entirely. If she somehow busted him he was actually going to commit suicide rather than pay her and listen to her run her mouth at him. Only a few hands later she was at it again, not with Paul but with the old looking guy who was sitting next to her who actually had the most chips on the table. The cards on the board were ten, ace, jack, five and Laura had just pushed all of her chips in. If this guys could call and beat whatever Laura had she would be gone. If only. With her typical lack of class she began mouthing at her opponent, "I know what you have. You can call me but you're going to need a king. You really want to put most of your money in with only one shot at winning? Huh? You really think you're going to hit a king? Do it. I really want you to." On and on she went at the guy as he tried to decide what to do, clearly getting pissed off with her in his face. She was trying to imply that the only hand which would beat her was a straight which would mean that the guy would have to be holding and king and a queen but Laura seemed to suspect that he only had a queen at the moment and would need to drop a king to beat her which was next to impossible with only one card to come.

The guy took nearly two minutes to make his decision under fire from Laura constantly which everyone at the table clearly found distasteful but he did call. Laura was at risk, it was Paul had been hoping for. He begged silently for the guy to have her beat but as the man turned over his cards Laura jumped up again, "Yes! I told you!" She had called the guy correctly, he had a queen and a jack and would need to hit a king to beat the ace and jack that Laura turned over. "I told you," she chirped again, "I told you that you would need a king. Just don't play me guys, that's your best bet."

The dealer turned over the final card and it was up there with the best moments of Paul's life. A king came. It was unbelievable but it happened and Laura was gone. Her mouth had immediately stopped running but it was slightly open as she stared at the offending card as though she doubted that it was real. To his credit the guy who had won the hand said nothing to rub in his lucky victory. There were smiles from the others at the table but no one said anything as Laura remained stunned for almost thirty seconds before demanding of no one in particular, "What the fuck? I mean seriously?"

Paul decided that this would be the perfect moment to clear his throat and remind Laura of his presence. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides and her eyes closed. Paul already knew that he would remember every second of this and he savoured them to the fullest by standing and making his way around to Laura's seat. "Where are your chips? This is where you were sitting, right? Strange, don't see them anywhere? Wait, are you out? Oh shit! Guess what? I'm still in! Now what was that bet we made? That's right, first one eliminated wins a thousand bucks. That was it wasn't it? No, wait, it was the first one eliminated loses a thousand bucks, now I remember." He could see that Laura was literally shaking with rage and humiliation at the way she had been eliminated and then the patronising way that she was being spoken to. It was beyond priceless. She would not even make eye contact with him as she reached into her pocket and took out a roll of notes secured with a band and threw them at him before storming away. "Do I need to count it?" Paul yelled after her. Every time he saw her from now on he would make a point of mentioning that moment in some way.

A minute later after Paul had returned to his seat with a huge grin on his face it got even better for him. Laura actually came back and mouthed off at him, "Get that knee healed. I'll see your ass on the golf course." The only response Paul gave her was a smirk. It was all that he needed to give after the reaction he had just gotten from her. She stormed off again and as Paul watched her go he decided that he did not mind getting eliminated quickly now. He had won the bet and he could get upstairs and fuck Trish. A truly perfect evening.

* * *

><p>More than two weeks had gone by since the poker game and Paul had not seen Laura once, not in the office or backstage at Raw. She was actually avoiding him, that had to be it. The longer it went on the more Paul was enjoying it, as he would the first time that he did see her. Everything else in his life was going perfectly too. He had taken over the creative department and was now spending his work days doing tow of his favourite things; writing storylines and ordering people around. Things were great outside of work too, Trish seemed to have gotten over her insecurities and he had been fucking her almost every night. The sex had been so frequent that he had barely even thought about fucking Laura but he was sure that he would return to that the next time that he saw her. Despite what had happened and how he had humbled Laura he still ahd every intention of claiming what was his, an amazing fuck and dominance over Laura. Maybe it would be tonight that he would see her, he was backstage at Raw after all which meant that she would be here somewhere. Right now though he had Trish sitting on his desk in the creative office which gave him the excuse to do nothing while those under him worked their asses off.<p>

Trish was waffling on about redecorating one of the living rooms at home, as if that might interest him when the door to the office crashed open. Stephanie McMahon stormed in and over to his desk. When she spoke her voice was louder than it needed to be and the words were slurred. She had clearly been drinking and drinking a lot. The words she delivered silenced the room and caused several mouths to drop open including those of Paul and Trish.

"Well Mr and Mrs Levesque you can write me out of your matches. Congratulations Paul, you're going to be a dad. You got me pregnant you bastard."


	29. Chapter 29

Paul was stunned by the announcement that Stephanie had just slurred at him but clearly he was expected to respond in some way. Trish was staring at him open mouthed, Stephanie was staring at him angrily and everyone else in the room was simply staring at him. But what was he supposed to say? This could not really be happening, could it? How on Earth could Stephanie be stupid enough to get pregnant? And how did she know that it was his anyway? That had to be the first question.

"How do you know it's mine?"

"Quite easy really," Stephanie snorted, "I've not been with anyone else. Trust me I would rather it be anyone but you but it's you."

Paul's response came automatically, "What the fuck were you thinking? How could you let this happen? Tell me you're not keeping it?"

Stephanie exploded, "I fucking knew you would say something like that. You're the most disgusting bastard on the planet." With that she stormed out and slammed the door. Trish was next to start on him. Her voice was a long way from a shout, it was more of a shocked or dazed mumble, "You got her pregnant? She's carrying your baby? Oh god Paul I can't do this." She hopped off the edge of the desk and hurried towards the door.

Paul felt his head spinning. What the hell had just happened? That stupid bitch was pregnant and Trish was blaming him and walking out on him? Hell no. He was not going to let Stephanie's stupidity ruin his marriage. He headed after Trish as fast as he could but of course it was slower than she was walking. By the time he made it to the door Trish was halfway along the hallway. "Trish! Wait! Come back!"

Surprisingly Trish did actually stop and then started heading back towards him but as she did so Paul noticed that she was crying. Great. Stephanie had caused this and now he would have to come up with a way to fix it and fast. Before he came up with anything Trish was speaking, her voice breaking as she did so, "I've been trying. I've been trying so hard to make this work but now this. You know how much this hurts me? Another woman, a woman who you cheated on me with, is carrying your baby. What am I supposed to do when it's born, when there's a constant reminder of what you did?"

Again Paul was left struggling for an answer. What was he supposed to say to that other than the obvious? "Trish you already knew that I slept with Stephanie and we've been fine these last couple of weeks. Why does the fact that she's stupid enough to get pregnant have to change that?"

"Just don't Paul," Trish sighed with a defeated shake of the head, "I'm going home." She turned and stormed away again but Paul asked, "What about us? We're okay, right?"

Once more Trish turned but all she could say was, "I don't know. I don't know anything any more." Paul realised that this time as she walked away she was not going to stop. He felt rage building up inside of him and it needed a release of some kind and the first idea was to find Stephanie and cut loose at her for her stupidity. He headed off to attempt to find her but failed as she apparently was not in the women's locker room or anywhere else that he looked. After five minutes of searching, growing more and more angry by the second he was finally unable to control himself and he punched the door that he had happened to be walking past as hard as he could which did not have much effect on the wood but it hurt his hand like hell. "Fuck! Stupid fucking bitch!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Of all of the voices Paul could have heard angrily questioning him at that moment this one was top of the list that he would have wanted to avoid. How did Laura always appear at the worst time? There was no way he was going to listen to shit from her now. His blood was boiling already and she was going to be the next target if she was not very careful. He turned to face her and issued a warning, "You'd better get out of my face Laura. Now is not the time for..."

"Shut the fuck up! Don't you fucking dare talk to me like that!" The explosion was the first time Paul had ever heard Laura scream at someone and it actually staggered him as she did it with a kind of immense fury that he had rarely seen from a person before, let alone a woman. She demanded, "Where's McMahon?" Surely she did not know already? How the hell could she? But it seemed that she did, her eyes were alive with too much anger for it to simply relate to his ill considered warning. Paul actually found himself trying to calm down in the face of it as anything could happen if she was this angry. "I don't know," he mumbled in answer to the barked question.

"My office, now!" With that Laura stormed off, presumably to find Stephanie. All of this was her fault and now he was going to have to take a grilling from Laura as well as try to mend fences with Trish when he got home. What an utter disaster. Why could she not have just done whatever it was that women did to stop themselves getting pregnant? Were they not supposed to take a pill or something? How could this even be happening? He did not even know where Laura's office was which meant that he had to ask directions on the way there. When he finally found it he made sure to knock before walking in just in case Laura had beaten him back there but the room was empty. Several minutes dragged by with Paul standing and waiting which led him to hope that Laura would be calmer when she arrived in the office. The door opened behind him and then slammed shut. Laura's voice came and it was no calmer at all as she approached him and then ended up standing in front of him, "Paul Levesque, Trish Levesque, Stephanie McMahon. Why is it that I have no issues with anyone that works in any of my companies other than the three names I just mentioned? Over and over I keep hearing them," Suddenly her voice rose to a scream again, even louder than in the hallway and this time directly in Paul's face causing him to take a step back, "And I'm starting to get fucking tired of it!"

Paul's plan had been to tell Laura to calm down but that now seemed incredibly ill advised so he remained silent and listened to the rant continue, noticing that despite Laura's dark skin her face was turning red with anger. "I've got you going around fucking anything that moves, your wife in my office crying or asking for a new job every other fucking week and now I've got McMahon, one of if not the best talent in our divas division showing up here pregnant and drunk. And do you know what the common problem is in all of this?"

The answer was obvious but Paul had no intention of providing it. She was attempting to blame everything on him. Again he decided to remain silent and Laura continued, "You! I'm sick of all the crap I have to deal with that you cause. You'd better sort your life out and do it fast because I've had enough. I gave you the job that you asked for and this is what I get in return?" Again her voice rose to a scream, "This shit will stop!"

"Laura I didn't even know..." Paul began to defend himself but he was cut off but more screaming, "Get out! Go home. Fix things with Trish, leave Trish, go move in with Stephanie, go walk in front of a train, I don't give a fuck what you do but don't show up in my offices or at Raw again until you can guarantee that I don't hear a word about any of you. Is that clear?"

"Yes, clear," Paul mumbled, just glad to be able to get out of the office. "Send Stephanie in here." With that he was dismissed. He was glad that he was not the one who had shown up for work drunk. If Stephanie kept her job with Laura in this mood it would be a miracle, not that he cared. It would serve the stupid bitch right if anything for putting him in this spot with Trish and Laura.

* * *

><p>Despite being drunk Stephanie realised that she was in deep shit as she waited in the hallway outside of the boss' office because she could quite clearly hear her screaming at Paul. If that was how she reacted to Paul what was the reaction going to be to her showing for Raw drunk? It had been incredibly stupid to spend all day in the bar at the hotel after finding out that she was pregnant. How could this be happening to her? Paul Levesque had used her, fucked her a few times and then discarded her like yesterday's garbage and not only that he had gotten her pregnant. There was always the option of abortion but she could not do that, no way. The baby might be Paul's but it was also her own and she could not kill her own child. She would never be able to live with herself if she did that. The poor child was going to have to grow up with Paul as a father or more than likely with no father at all. Paul's first instinct had been that she should not keep the baby, just as she had suspected. The guy really was the lowest of the low. His only interest had been to try to prevent Trish from leaving him. She was going to be a single mother with no help from her parents. Only Shane and Marissa would be there for her but even with their help it seemed that her wrestling career was likely to be over almost before it started. Paul Levesque had ruined her life and he did not even care. Just then Paul came out of the office with his cheeks red, presumably embarrassed at being screamed at by Laura or angry, or both. "She wants you in there. Really good job you fucking idiot," was all that he had to say. Stephanie summoned the courage to speak her own mind and spat at him, "You've ruined my life you bastard."<p>

The reaction she got was not what she had expected. Paul got in her face, intimidating her and growled, "News flash you stupid little bitch. I didn't rape you, we fucked each other and you've gone and got pregnant. Don't come crying to me about it. I don't want anything to do with you or your stupid kid. Stay away from me and stay away from my wife." With that he walked away as fast as his bad knee would let him leaving Stephanie shaking. She felt scared for more than one reason; not only had Paul just frightened her she had never been screamed at like Paul just had by Laura before in her life and she was afraid of it happening now. She imagined that showing up drunk gave Laura the right to fire her on the spot. What on Earth had she been thinking? Despite hating the guy she had to admit that Paul was right, she was a fucking idiot. She could be about to be out of a job as well as pregnant. There was only one choice; tell Laura the truth and hope for mercy. As she walked into the office tears already came to Stephanie's eyes as she spoke before Laura could start into her, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't have been drinking but he's ruined my life."

Laura had been ready to deliver another mauling and possibly fire Stephanie but as she studied and listened to the pathetic sight in front of her she considered what her husband constantly told her; There's more than one way to lead people. You can earn respect through kindness as well as intimidation. Was it really the correct course of action to give this naive young woman both barrels when she was clearly distraught? No.

"Stephanie stop crying," Laura tried to sound sympathetic and figured that being as unaccustomed to it as she was that she had not done a bad job, "Sit on the couch."

Still on the brink of bursting into tears Stephanie did as she was ordered and sat down. She was surprised when the boss sat next to her and continued to speak kindly, "Paul's a bastard Stephanie, okay? He's the worst human being I've ever met and you're pregnant with his child. I understand why you feel the way you do but your life is not ruined. You're going to be a mother and that's an amazing thing. You're going to bring a life into the world and whether Paul is there for you or not you will both be happy. I'm not going to fire you for what happened here tonight..."

"Thank you, I really am sorry," Stephanie cut in as tears now escaped her eyes, "I'm scared. I don't know anything about being a mother."

"Neither do I. I'm not a mother myself. Talk to your mother or something. What I was about to say is that although I'm not going to fire you Paul, Trish and the whole creative office apparently saw and heard your little display so it's going to need to look like I've at least suspended you. Two weeks at home but I'll still have you paid and you'll be looked after during your pregnancy. You can continue in your role as General Manager for the time being. Fair enough?"

Stephanie realised that she was very lucky to get off without punishment for what she had done. People were wrong in what they said about Laura, everyone called her bitch, dragon or all kinds of other insults behind her back but really she was kind and understanding. Stephanie thanked Laura again and made to leave but Laura had something else to say. "Stephanie you do realise that if anything like this happens again I'll have to let you go?"

"Yes," Stephanie nodded, "But it won't. I have a baby to think about and I need this job."

Laura gave a nod of her own, "Very well. Go." The door closed behind Stephanie and Laura let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Relax. That was what she had to do before she had a stroke or something. These people were something else. If she had known that working with wrestlers would be this much stress she would have turned down the chance to take over from her father and told him to give control of the company to one of her sisters. With a shake of the head she told herself that it was not wrestlers in general that were the problem in this place it was just one man. If Paul Levesque was not one of if not the best wrestler that the company had and one of the best writers too she could easily fire him and be done with it but sadly that would be financial suicide and in any case the board of directors would block it even if she tried. The problem that was Paul Levesque would continue regardless of what she said or did and it infuriated her like nothing before.

* * *

><p>Glad to get the night over with Laura left the arena as soon as possible as usual and headed for the airport. During the journey she had called her husband and he had managed to calm her as he always seemed to and now rather than kill someone all that she wanted to do was get home. Immediately upon getting out of the limo she noticed something and yet again her blood pressure began to rise as she stormed up the steps and into the cabin of her private jet. The two pilots were standing in there which added to the initial problem that she had noticed, the planes engines were not running. "What are you waiting on, Christmas?" She demanded as she glared at the two men, "Move your asses and get this thing in the air."<p>

It seemed that there had been a disagreement over which of the two men would speak. It mattered little to Laura as she had never bothered to learn the names of either of them. The older of the two, a small man with greying hair took up the challenge and addressed his boss who was half his age and taller than his five feet eight in her heels, neither of which made him comfortable, "Uh... Mrs. Molinaro we can't leave. We can't take off."

Laura moved closer to the man and looked him in the eye, "I'm going to need you to repeat that."

Rather than obey the command the pilot provided more information, "We have pressure warnings on one of the engines. It's almost certainly a minor fault that we can have fixed tomorrow morning but for right now we're grounded."

Wondering what she had done to deserve this day from hell Laura found herself yet again with her eyes closed, attempting to resist tearing into someone. After a long moment she trusted herself to speak, more in hope than expectation, "We have two engines, no? You have a fault with one of them."

"Ma'am even if I was happy to fly on one engine, which I'm not, we don't have enough power to take off."

Before Laura could come up with a response her stewardess spoke gently from behind her and when Laura turned around she saw that the woman must have fetched the limo driver because he was also standing there. "Mrs. Molinaro I figure there are two options. We can get you on a regular flight out of here, whenever the next one is, or you can stay in a hotel and fly out with us tomorrow morning when the engine is repaired."

This decision did not take long to make. The thought of sitting next to some fat guy who stank of sweat or someone's screaming kids was repulsive so it had to be the hotel. Without thanking any of her staff Laura ordered the pilots, "This problem will be fixed by the time I arrive here tomorrow." She then gestured to the limo driver to leave the cabin, "The Hilton. _Andiamo!"_

Another limo ride and another phone call with her husband calmed her a little before the limo pulled up outside of the hotel and five minutes later, thankfully without any hassle she arrived in her room but that was when another realisation hit her. She had no luggage and no change of clothes for the morning. This was without doubt the worst day ever. Alcohol, that was what she needed. With the decision made she headed out of the room and down to the bar.

* * *

><p>"Fucking great. That's just fucking great," Paul raged as he walked into his hotel room and saw that Trish had indeed taken her things and gone home. Stephanie McMahon had a lot to answer for tonight that was for sure. What was it going to be like when he arrived home tomorrow and tried to fix things with her? Shit, that was what it was going to be like. Shit just like tonight had been. What he needed was a drink to take the edge of it.<p>

Now intent on getting drunk he walked into the bar two minutes later but froze as he noticed who was sitting at the bar staring into what looked like a coke. "No fucking way," he breathed to himself, "What's she doing here?" Laura was sitting in the bar looking depressed and if what she had was something like a JD and coke she was drinking too. She had not gone home and Trish had. If he was ever going to get an opportunity to make a move on her this was it.

"You wouldn't know what to do with a woman like me Paul." The whispered words repeated themselves yet again in his head as they had so many times before over the previous weeks.

"Let's find out shall we," Paul smirked as he headed towards the bar.


	30. Chapter 30

As Paul walked towards the bar and towards Laura she gave him the perfect way to open by almost draining her drink, whatever it was. "Can I refill that for you?" He asked as he sat down next to her. The only reaction that he saw was that Laura closed her eyes for a second before almost mumbling, "Go away Paul. I don't have the energy to get angry again tonight." This was something new. Paul had never seen or heard Laura like this before. She had not looked at him but she looked tired and sounded dejected or depressed. "What makes you think that I want to make you angry?"

"That's all you ever do. You make everyone angry. You're an asshole."

If Paul had bothered trying to imagine how this conversation would go this would certainly not have been what he came up with and he found himself short of something to say so he returned to his opening question, "What are you drinking?"

"JD and coke." Laura still had not even looked at him.

"I imagined you as a wine drinker."

"I don't drink wine alone."

Paul grinned, "You're not alone."

"JD and coke Paul."

Paul ordered the drink for Laura and a beer for himself as he tried to think of a way to turn this encounter towards what he wanted. First he figured that he had to stop Laura feeling miserable about whatever the problem was. Surely she could not be this down simply because she was away from home for a night? Why was she here instead of heading for home anyway? That was the first thing to ask. "What are you doing here? I thought you were flying out?"

"So did I. There's a problem with my jet." This was no good at all, he was getting no where with Laura mumbling answers to his questions and staring across the bar at nothing. "Laura look at me." The request was obeyed and Paul saw sadness in the eyes that he adored so much. "What's wrong with you?"

Suddenly Laura came to life, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with _you_ Paul? Huh? You're married to a kind hearted, beautiful woman and you're breaking her heart. You've got another young woman pregnant and you don't even care about her or the baby. You're going to be a father Paul. You're going to bring a child into the world and I know what you're like, you want to, what? Abandon it? Pretend that it doesn't exist? You don't know how lucky you are. You need to sort your life out and stop hurting people."

Tears now filled the eyes that Paul gazed in to. Why was Laura so upset or even interested in the way he chose to lead his life? It made no sense. "Why are you so interested in what I do?"

"I'm not. I'm interested in that poor baby." Laura turned away which still left Paul in no doubt that she was crying or on the verge of it. She was this upset about Stephanie's baby potentially growing up alone. She did a lot of work for children's charities. Paul came to a realisation and blurted it out, "You lost a baby didn't you?"

Now Laura was crying for sure. Although she was still trying to hide it he could tell from her voice, "No. I lost a child. My daughter. She was born prematurely and she died."

"Are you okay ma'am? Do I need to ask the gentleman to leave?" The bartender had brought the two drinks over and saw that state that Laura was in.

"No. It's not him. Just leave us please." Laura wiped at her eyes as the bartender granted her request and left them alone. Paul was not very good at caring about anyone but himself and he knew it but he felt obliged to say or do something. Clearly his plan of fucking the boss was out of the window, for now at least. After a long moment he came up with, "I'm sorry. It must have been uh... terrible."

"Just go away Paul. I don't want your fucking fake sympathy."

"Fake?" Paul demanded indignantly, "Why must it be fake?"

Laura turned back to him and the tears had been wiped away. The response was not delivered angrily, simply as a statement, "You came and sat here because you wanted tonight to end with us sleeping together, not because you give a damn about me. Let's not kid each other on."

She had read him so what was the point in denying it? "True but that doesn't mean that I don't feel sympathy for what you just told me. I've never seen you like this before."

"You've never seen Laura before that's why. You only see the boss." The first thing that came to Paul was to say that he would like to see Laura but that sounded corny and might even be misinterpreted as referring to sex. This conversation was stupidly difficult. He considered making an excuse to leave but he had a beer that he had only just started on, he was not keeping pace with Laura who was nearly halfway down her drink already, she was really going for it. Laura had decided to be honest so maybe he could do the same in return, "I don't want a kid. I don't want Stephanie. I want Trish."

A quizzical look came his way, "You want Trish? You want Trish yet you came over here with the express intention of sleeping with me? What's wrong with you Paul?"

It was a very good question. He had not always been like this. He loved Trish. He had accepted Trish's marriage proposal because he loved her but had started to want to sleep with other women. Why? His head was a mess. Trish was fully hot and Laura was right, she was a very kind hearted and trusting person too. Even so he could not help himself thinking about other women constantly. Laura was drinking from her glass and looking at him as she waited for an answer to her question. Even now he could not stop thinking about how hot she was. Again he decided to be honest but once he had started he went further than he had intended, "I don't know. That's the honest answer. You're just so fucking beautiful and the way you stand up to me turns me on something crazy. I'd give anything for a night with you." He managed to stop himself before adding that he wanted to dominate her, to hold her down and have her beg him to fuck her while he looked into her eyes and saw that she knew that he was totally in control of her. He wanted to see that more than anything else. She was the only woman who had ever stood up to him and she needed to be broken in the same way that a wild horse did. It would be a rush like nothing else to have this powerful, aggressive woman at his mercy and tonight she was weak, vulnerable. This was his chance if ever he was going to get it. Maybe it was a dick move to prey on her while she was vulnerable but what the hell, he had done worse to get himself a fuck with women who were a lot less attractive than Laura in the past.

"You're something else Paul, you know that? Does marriage not mean anything to you?" That was it? That was her response? Not fuck off away from me? Not you're a sexist animal? That was a good sign for sure. "You asked a question and I answered it."

Laura did not respond to that and the conversation appeared to have died as she stared into her drink again. Paul decided to try to lighten the mood a little, "I've not spent your thousand bucks yet." The corners of Laura's mouth rose a little, "That hand was bullshit and you know it. I outplayed you and everyone else at that table. I talked that guy into that stupid call and he sucked out on me. I can't believe you took the money to be honest."

"Well you have a chance to win it back at golf. I'm back in training soon so we can get on that."

"I'll show you how to play that day." The mischief was returning to her voice. Suddenly Paul had an idea, "I'm sorry about how angry I made you earlier. I shouldn't have told you to get out of my face, that was out of line. You look real stressed."

More coke disappeared from Laura's glass which was now nearly empty. This girl could drink for sure. "I am stressed. I own four companies and I'm a major stockholder and Chairwoman of WWE. It's constant work almost twenty four seven and you certainly haven't made it easier these couple of months or whatever it's been. Plus I hate being away from home, I hate staying in hotels. Life sucks sometimes."

"It doesn't have to be so bad, tonight could be great if we let it." It had sounded a lot better in his head beforehand but it was out there now.

Paul was unaware of the battle that Laura was having within herself. She was willing herself to tell this guy to get out of her face and go to hell but something was stopping her. Maybe it was the fact that she was totally unable to control him in any way, the fact that his ego was even bigger than her own? Maybe it was that aside from him being a lying, cheating bastard they were very alike? The battle of egos had been very enjoyable these past few weeks, maybe the sex would be too? She hated herself for it but she wanted to find out. The idea of cheating on her husband was abhorrent to her but even so she was on the point of doing it. She willed something to come out of her mouth that would pull her back from the brink but it would not happen. No words came at all and the long moment of eye contact dragged on until Paul encouraged, "No one will ever know. Just once, and it will be amazing. Trust me."

Those eyes revealed everything. They were incredible, the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He knew it now, she wanted him but she was trying not to. He had to force his way through her defences. Gently he stroked some of her hair away from the side of her face, "Let yourself go. Let me make love to you Laura." Still she seemed to be struggling, her voice soft, sounding almost fearful, "I'm married. I can't."

"He'll never know. No one will. It will be incredible." She just stared at him. Her eyes were alive with emotion but for once he could not tell what the emotion was. "You can trust me," he repeated in a voice almost as soft as hers had been. Now he figured out why he could not read the emotion in her eyes; there were too many at the same time. She looked frozen, unable to make a decision. Was she willing herself to do it or not to? It did not really matter. Paul stood, "Come with me."

She looked up at him but did not attempt to stand. After a moment she asked softly, "What room are you in?" Holy shit! She was going for it! He was going to get to fuck the woman he desired most. Adrenaline surged through him and he felt and incredible rush just at her simple question. "Four zero four."

"I'll come to you." Paul nodded and walked away, desperately hoping that she would keep her word. Before he was out of earshot he heard her order another drink. Two minutes later he was back in his room but there was nothing to do but sit on the bed and wait. Minutes dragged by and they were the longest of his life. He was raging to go but Laura was not showing. "She's not fucking coming," he complained to himself after more than fifteen minutes had gone by. Dejectedly he stood and walked over to the mini bar to get something else to drink but at that moment there was a soft tap on the door.


	31. Chapter 31

Paul stared at the door almost in disbelief at what or rather who was almost certainly on the other side of it. Laura was actually going to let him fuck her. This could be his best conquest ever. This hot headed, aggressive, wild woman had come to his room to be tamed. What would it be like? He felt himself rushing again as he got to the door as quickly as he could and and opened it and there she was, looking ever so slightly upwards into his eyes with her own stunning green ones. He saw exactly what he had hoped for, they were full of lust.

"Only once, and no one finds out?"

As confirmation Paul repeated himself for a third time that night, "Trust me," And lightning fast Laura was on him. She had the chest of his shirt bunched up in both of her fists and pushed him into the room as she began to kiss him. She was nothing like as strong as him of course but she had taken him by surprise and caught him off balance so he staggered back and his huge frame crashed into the wall as Laura kicked the door shut behind her.

This was what Paul had hoped for but he was still initially stunned both by the fact that it was happening at all and the ferocity with which Laura was almost attacking him and pinning him to the wall as her perfume filled his nostrils and her tongue entered his mouth. This kind of thing was what he liked most from a woman, it made it all the more satisfying to over power them and make them submit. Trish would try to fight him but it was obvious that she was only doing it to try to please him. Contrary to that Laura had the natural fire in her, that was what was most attractive about her. Fire or not she was not going to get the best of him.

With the initial few moments of surprise now behind him and Laura still holding the front of his shirt and kissing him almost aggressively Paul considered this to be his time to take charge. With aggression of his own he ripped Laura's hands off the front of his shirt and shoved her almost viciously across the width of the entrance to the hotel room and into the opposite wall as he ordered, "Get that fucking jacket off."

As it was all she had Laura was still wearing her black business suit and very dark blue blouse but if Paul had anything to do with it she would not be wearing them for long. He felt himself hardening as Laura obeyed his order, partly due to that and partly due to coming closer to seeing the breasts that he had thought about so many times. The jacket was removed and thrown into the room, landing near the foot of the bed as Paul took a step across to Laura and began to very roughly open her blouse.

"Careful. This is all I have."

"Do it yourself then," Paul ordered gruffly and again his order was obeyed, this time more slowly and now Laura was standing in front of him in only her pants, the angel necklace and a white bra that made her dark skin tone stand out even more. "Now that. I want to see those tits."

Laura now appeared to realise that Paul was getting off on ordering her. "Fuck you," she breathed and yanked him to her by the front of his shirt again and resumed kissing him. Paul could tell by her breathing and the small involuntary moan that escaped her that she was burning just as hot for this as he was but he was determined to see those tits so did the job of removing the bra himself as he made sure that Laura could not resist by holding her tightly to him with one arm wrapped around her. He was taking control of her and already it was driving him wild.

When the bra disappeared in the same direction as the jacket Paul shoved Laura into the wall again so that he could finally see what he wanted to see. "Fucking beautiful," he almost moaned as Laura glared at him. As he had hoped she did not like to be taken charge of. This was going to be the best fuck of his life.

Again Laura came off the wall but as she attempted to reassert herself Paul picked her up clean off her feet and almost hurled her onto the bed. With Trish he would immediately climb on top and drill her but he should have known that Laura would not be that easy and she would not given in to him. He was taken completely by surprise when after tearing off his pants and boxers he tried to climb on top of what was about to be his newest conquest but suddenly he felt Laura's hand clamp around his balls. Her grip was just tight enough to cause pain but not much of it as her other hand pushed him over onto his side and then onto his back.

It was something that had never happened before, just like that a woman was in control of him instead of the other way around. Laura's bare chest was right in front of him as her green eyes gleamed. She was on top of him and she had his balls in her hand, able to cause untold pain simply by clenching her fist.

She was clearly getting off on the control herself as she almost panted, "You like to be in charge Paul? Not of me. I'm your boss remember?" Paul was loving and hating this at the same time. It was a crazy turn on to fight the semi naked Laura but he knew what was coming next. "Tell me I'm your boss."

"Fuck you, bitch," Paul gasped out as his dick grew harder than he had ever felt it before. The pressure on his balls increased ever so slightly and Laura lowered her head closer to him, looking directly into his eyes. "Tell me."

There was only one option aside from unbearable pain. "You're the boss," he growled.

"Not good enough," Laura insisted, "I'm your boss."

"You're my boss." Paul said the words and saw the satisfaction in the eyes that were locked with his own. He hated it but then Laura made a mistake by releasing her grasp on his prized possessions. It was all the opening that Paul needed.

"You fucking bitch," he growled as he powered Laura off him and quickly tore open her pants and slipped two fingers inside her thong and into her incredible wetness. Now he was going to get what he wanted so badly. He knew that he had perfected how to touch a woman to send her over the edge, how to rub her clit just right with his thumb as his fingers worked their magic. When he was done with this Laura would be a quivering mess underneath him and would beg him to fuck her.

There was no attempt from Laura to resist him now, she was lying there and groaning quietly in pleasure but her eyes were clamped tightly shut. She knew what he wanted and she was going to deny him, or so she thought. Her breathing had quickened dramatically and she began to move with him as his touch began to bring her towards the peak of her pleasure and then faint moaning sounds that sounded as though she was attempting to stop them began to escape her. This was what he had been waiting for, any moment now.

At the first hint of a quiver from Laura and a slightly louder moan Paul abruptly stopped and withdrew his fingers. He knew that his timing had been perfect as Laura's eyes opened and grew wide as she almost panted, "Bastard." This was the moment. Paul got in position and placed a hand between Laura's pert breasts and pressed her down hard into the bed so that she could not move. Ideally he would have pinned her hands above her head but that was not possible with the way that she was lying so this would have to do. The key was what came next. Knowing that Laura was now desperate to come he allowed his rock hard length to touch the inside of her thigh and then her lips as he looked into the wide eyes and demanded, "If you want it you can fucking ask for it."

"Fuck you," Laura gasped, defiant to the end.

"Beg for it you bitch."

"Fuck you." There was a lot less defiance now but she had closed her eyes.

"Open your eyes and beg and I'll fuck you like you've never been fucked before."

He could tell that part of Laura still wanted to defy him but a much larger part wanted him, needed him to fill her, to bring her to her climax. The brilliant green eyes opened and looked up him and he saw what he had craved for so long, Laura was at his mercy, he was totally dominant over her at this moment and she knew it. "Fuck me. Please."

It was hardly begging but Paul was ready to explode himself such was the rush from what he had just seen beneath him so he obeyed the request and slipped himself into the warmth that was waiting for him. He knew that it would not take much now for Laura to reach her peak and sure enough as he began grunting and roughly pounding her, still holding her down he felt her quivering and then saw her put her left fist, with the wedding ring on it, into her mouth and bite it as she attempted, only partially successfully, to keep her sounds of utmost pleasure from him as she came.

The aggressive, arrogant, supposed boss of him lay conquered underneath him and all that was left to do was add the final exclamation point. With a moan of utmost, indescribable satisfaction he unloaded himself into her over the course of two or three thrusts as she continued to gasp for breath beneath him.

He withdrew from her and almost collapsed onto the bed beside her. He had done it. Finally he had done it. He had fucked Laura, she had almost begged for it and they had both loved it. Life was perfect, it really was.

Wrong.

Less than a minute had gone by with Paul and Laura lying naked beside each other trying to recover their breath and their senses when they heard the hotel room door open and a female voice with a Canadian accent, "Paul, I'm sorry I walked out. We need to talk."

The door closed again as Laura hid beneath the blanket, as if that would help.


	32. Chapter 32

Paul knew that his marriage was over as soon as he heard Trish's voice. He was lying naked on the bed next to Laura who for some reason had hidden under the blanket. What did she think that was going to achieve? Even if it had not been obvious that there was someone under there the fact that her clothes were strewn all over the floor along with his own would be a bit of a give away. At that moment Trish walked around the corner with a smile on her face but she froze and took a second to process what she saw before the smile faded and she almost sighed, "Oh you bastard."

"Trish this isn't what it looks like." The first thing to come into Paul's head had came straight out of his mouth and he immediately realised what a stupid thing it had been to say as Trish exploded, "Really? Because what it looks like is that you're fucking someone behind my back again! Who the fuck is it this time?" With that she threw the half of the blanket that was covering the mystery woman across Paul's naked body and saw the equally naked form of the Chairwoman of WWE causing her mouth to drop open in shock.

"Trish..." Was all Laura managed to say as she attempted to get off the bed but Trish swung a right hand as she growled, "Fucking bitch." Unlike the previous shot she had gotten into Stephanie weeks before this one was not perfectly aimed and did not catch its target by surprise therefore the result was only a glancing blow to the side of the head as Laura partially succeeded in dodging. Even so she was knocked to the floor and Trish was on top of her in a second with one hand clamped around her throat. She drew her right fist back to deliver another blow, this one right to the face as Laura gasped out a protest but Paul made it around the bed in time, grabbed Trish from behind and lifted her off the larger, naked woman. "Trish don't hit her for fuck's sake! Think about what you're doing!"

"Get off me you bastard! Let me at her!" Trish struggled in Paul's arms as she was carried across the room. As satisfying as it was to have two incredibly hot women fighting over him, especially with one of them naked it was obvious that he was going to end up in the shit for this especially if the Chairwoman of the company came out of it with her face smashed in. "Fucking stop," he ordered as he set Trish down on the opposite side of the room but as soon as he did she was off again. Paul turned sharply to attempt to restrain her and felt a sharp stab of pain from his injured knee. There was a more immediate concern as Trish had thrown herself at Laura again and the two women were struggling with each other on the floor, both screaming insults. Laura had managed to wrestle Trish to the floor and was on top of her by the time Paul limped over there and pulled her off. "Fucking stop!" He screamed again this time at both women as he tossed Laura onto the bed.

"You fucking bitch," Trish raged as she got to her feet, "You sat there in your office comforting me when I cried my eyes out to you and all the time you were fucking him behind my back. I'll fucking kill you." Again she tried to get at Laura but Paul was able to grab her in a waist lock. "Laura get dressed and get out before one of you gets hurt."

"Fucking get off me!" Trish screamed even louder but then the tears began to flow as she struggled with him, kicking at his body and trying to prise his arms apart, "Get off me. Let me go." Even though he was struggling with his wife and there was a lot of pain coming from his knee there was another concern at that moment and that was the look he saw in Laura's eyes as she got of the bed and picked her clothes up from the floor. He was in no doubt that he was in the shit with both women for this. Trish was obviously going to divorce him and god only knew what Laura was going to do. He had told her to trust him multiple times and guaranteed her that no one would find out and now this had happened. He was not the only one whose marriage was going to be in jeopardy. This was confirmed by Trish who had now stopped her futile struggling in Paul's arms, "Wait till I tell your husband you fucking slut."

Hastily putting on her blouse Laura attempted to plead her case, "Trish don't do that. This was the first and only time and it was a mistake. Boy was it a fucking mistake. This bastard talked me into it, I didn't even want to do it. Dan doesn't deserve to get hurt by this."

"Fuck you, you fucking liar. I hope he divorces your slut ass the same as I'm going to divorce this bastard. Fucking let go of me!"

A sickening feeling hit Laura as the realisation began to hit home. This bastard Paul had taken advantage of her when she was feeling depressed with his false promises of 'making love' to her when all he had wanted to do was use her for a cheap fuck the same as he had with Stephanie McMahon. Not only that he had repeatedly told her to trust him that no one would ever find out and then his wife had walked into the room. Now she was going to tell her husband what had happened which would definitely mean divorce for her. Dan had always made his feelings about cheating perfectly clear. Not only would it mean a divorce the board of directors would find out and god only knew what would happen then. There was no point wondering why the hell she had done it, what she had to do was think of a way to stop Trish from telling her husband about this. Usually her mind would come up with something quickly even in the most difficult of situations but this time there was nothing. What could she possibly say or offer Trish that would convince her not to run her mouth? All she could say was, "Trish I don't care what it takes, please don't say anything. Please."

Paul had hesitantly released Trish as Laura was speaking partly because she had stopped struggling and partly because his knee was throbbing so painfully. "You're offering money now?" Trish's voice was full of the utmost disgust as tears trickled down her red cheeks, "You really are scum. You fuck my husband and then offer me money to keep quiet about it? Let me tell you something, your money isn't going to help you. I'm telling your husband exactly what you did because he deserves to know what he's married to before he ends up in this situation himself."

Tears came to Laura too as a final desperate idea came to her. "Trish I lost a daughter. She was born prematurely and she died. Her name was Angelica or Angel, that's why I wear this necklace. I swear to you on her memory that I didn't want to do this. Please don't ruin my life or more importantly my husband's for one mistake. I'm sorry."

Trish walked around the bed and Paul let her go this time, now more worried about his knee than the prospect of a fight between the two women. Twisting to try to grab hold of Trish had reinjured it, there was no doubt about it. Trish walked up to Laura and looked her in the eye, still with the same look of disgust on her face. "You swear to me on your daughter?"

"I do."

Trish spat in Laura's face, the saliva hitting her on the right cheek and beginning to dribble down it before Laura wiped it away. "You're a repulsive human being. I won't tell your husband, if he wants to be married to you more fool him. Fuck off out of my face."

Laura grabbed her shoes from the floor and scurried for the door with her tail between her legs. It did not matter right now that she felt used by Paul or that she had been assaulted, abused and spat on by Trish. All that mattered was that Trish had said that she would keep her mouth shut.

Back in the room Trish's attention had turned to Paul. "You unimaginable bastard. Why did you tell me you wanted to work on this and then continue cheating?"

"My knee's gone again," Paul mumbled as much to himself as to Trish from his sitting position on the edge of the bed as he flexed the injured knee and felt considerable pain.

"That's what you're fucking interested in? You know what I'm not even going to bother yelling at you because you're not worth it. You don't even care that I want a divorce do you? At least tell me the truth for once."

What was the point in trying to defend himself? He had cheated, been caught, gotten forgiveness, cheated again and been caught again. It was obvious that the marriage was over. Why the fuck did Laura have to be in the bar when he went down there? This would not be happening if she had gone home. Now he was going to be divorced and his knee was injured again. He had been on the point of returning to training and now this. Trish was waiting for some kind of response but what the hell did she expect him to say? She had asked for the truth so maybe that was what he should give her? "You want the truth? I thought I wanted to work on this marriage but I don't. I don't want to be with you because I don't love you. I never should have accepted your marriage proposal in the first place. I don't even know why I did."

It felt good to get that truth out in the open. Getting divorced and getting Trish out of his life was for the best, he should have realised that on the plane that day instead of agreeing to get back with her. He had been struggling for weeks to figure out what or rather who he wanted, Trish, Stephanie, Laura but now the answer had hit him. None of them. He did not want to be married to Trish and he had already achieved what he wanted with both Stephanie and Laura. He had fucked them both. He had already gotten Stephanie out of his head after doing so and now he could do the same with Laura, after all he would always have the memory of that look in her eyes as she almost, unfortunately only almost, begged him to fuck her. It had been incredible as he had known that it would be but now it was done. Yes, all three of them could go to hell now, he was done with them. Done with Trish and her stupid marriage, done with Laura and her stupid ego and done with Stephanie and her stupid kid.

Trish had shaken her head before heading for the door, "How did I not see this sooner? How was I so stupid? I hate you Paul, you miserable son of a bitch. I hope you die alone."

There was no way Trish was going to get the last word over him, no way in hell. "You think they're the only two?" He yelled after her, "I cheated on you a bunch of times of you stupid bitch." The only response was the door banging closed behind Trish. Paul closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. At least there was one positive from this, if Laura ever tried to get in his face over something again all he had to do was threaten to tell her husband about what had happened here tonight. That was worth a smile as he picked his clothes up from the floor.


	33. Chapter 33

Shane McMahon parked his car in the street outside of his sister's condo. It was time to find out what all of this was about. He had received a text from her the previous night asking him to take the afternoon off from work and to come over because she needed to talk. Of course he had immediately been concerned and had tried to call her but the attempt had been rejected and then another text had arrived asking him not to call, just to come over the next day. Something had obviously happened to upset her but he could not image what it was. Presumably it was something to do with work but from what he had seen on TV Stephanie had been playing her part well and she was not the kind of person to get involved in trouble in the locker room so it made no sense to think that maybe she had lost her job somehow. Whatever it was he was about to find out as he reached the condo and knocked on the door.

Inside the condo Stephanie leapt up from her couch. She knew that the person at the door would be Shane and she had been waiting for this chance to talk since finding out that she was pregnant the previous morning. Despite badly needing to talk to her brother it was not a conversation that she wanted to have over the phone as she knew that she would not be able to discuss the wreck that was now her life without breaking down and this way at least Shane would be with her in person when that happened. She opened the door and saw the concern on her brother's face as he greeted her, walked in and they exchanged their customary hug.

"I've been worrying since last Steph," he began as he walked into the living area and sat down on the couch, "Tell me what's wrong? Is it work?"

With the moment now at hand Stephanie suddenly found herself unsure of how to tell Shane what she wanted to tell him as she sat down next to him. The words just began to spill out as tears welled up in her eyes. Shane had the good sense to listen to it all without interrupting. His only action was to take his little sister's hand in his own as she made her way awkwardly through her story with some of the words hard to make out through her tears. "You remember the married man I told you about? He broke it off with me and he treated and spoke to me really badly. You were right about him and in a way I was glad to be away from him even though I loved him. I've not been feeling right for a while and then... what I'm trying to say is I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant with his baby and he told me he doesn't want anything to do with me or 'my' kid. I obviously can't wrestle now so my career is over. My life is over. He used me and he's ruined everything for me and he doesn't even care. And don't suggest an abortion because I already thought about it and I could never do it."

Despite the fact that his blood was now boiling at the way Stephanie had been used and abused by whoever this prick was Shane did an excellent job of concealing the fact as he pulled his tearful sister into a hug and gently shushed her until she was able to bring herself under control. "Your life is not over. It's not over and don't ever think that way. Even if this asshole wants nothing to do with you or your child you have Marissa and I to help you. Maybe you should try to patch things up with mom and dad?"

Stephanie had to wonder if her brother was for real. Her parents had literally disowned her for walking away from the family business to chase her lifelong dream and they had sent her on her way with words such as naive and stupid. Did Shane really think that these opinions would change if she showed up at the age of twenty two with her career and life in ruins, carrying the baby of a married man who wanted nothing to do with her? It was hardly likely was it? She could tell from Shane's expression that he was thinking the exact same things immediately after voicing the suggestion. "That's not going to happen Shane, I think we both know that."

"Well as I said Marissa and I are here for you. We'll help however and whenever you need us, I promise you that."

Tears returned to Stephanie's eyes. She had known that Shane would offer help but even so as she heard the words it was as if a tiny, ever so tiny light appeared at the end of the tunnel. "Thank you. Thank you so much. Without you guys in my life I would truly have nothing."

Holding and listening to his distraught sister was making Shane wild with rage that he was only barely keeping from exploding. "Who is this guy Steph?"

Previously Stephanie had avoided telling Shane anything more than that she was seeing a married man. His reaction to that had been bad enough so she had wanted to avoid a further lecture by not admitting that it was one of the wrestlers that she worked with but that hardly mattered now. There was no longer a reason not to admit the truth. "One of the wrestlers. Paul Levesque, Triple H as you would know him."

"Fucking hell Steph what were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking? I thought he loved me but no, he treated me like a worthless piece of meat."

Unable to bear it any more Shane separated himself from his sister and stormed towards the door. "Where are you going?" Stephanie asked urgently, afraid and correct in thinking that she already knew the answer.

Shane stopped in front of the Condo's door and turned around to face Stephanie. "I'm going to WWE's offices. If that prick isn't there himself I'm going to talk to that woman who runs the place and she's going to have to sort this. What's her name again, something foreign isn't it?"

Now Stephanie was torn. Shane storming into WWE headquarters and starting into Paul would not reflect well on her and also could potentially see Shane get hurt but on the other hand maybe he could be the one to get through to Paul that he had a child to be responsible for. Either way talking to the boss would not be necessary as Paul would be in the office. Everyone knew that he worked in the creative department now. "Her name is Laura but you won't need or probably even get close to speaking to her. Paul will be there but I don't know if you'll get to see him either. Let me get changed and I'll come with you."

Ten minutes later they were both in Shane's car heading for WWE headquarters.

* * *

><p>This was without doubt the worst that Laura had ever felt in her life. Her husband had just left the office and it gave her the chance to sit at her desk with her head in her hands. Dan had been so pleased to see her after spending a rare night apart but as they had been kissing all she could feel was guilt and hatred of herself. She had cheated on the man she so dearly loved. She had been talked into it by Paul Levesque and even worse than that she could not pretend that she had not thoroughly enjoyed it, up until the point where Trish walked in of course. Now not only did she have to live with the fact that she had cheated but also with the fact that two other people knew about it and could blow her life apart at any moment.<p>

This situation, Paul Levesque in particular was becoming unmanageable. There was never going to be a set of circumstances where she would be able to fire the guy, if anything it was more likely that the board would no confidence her before that happened. Even so things could not go on as they were, there was no place for an out of control employee in her company no matter who it was. If she could not fire him maybe there was another way to put an end to his antics, but what?

"There's more than one way to manage people Laura." Her husband's helpful voice repeated itself in her mind. Getting angry with Paul did not work. Playing him at his own games did not work. Maybe she could try to talk some sense into the guy instead? Surely no one actually wanted to be this much of an asshole? Deciding that there was no time like the present she picked up her phone and was almost immediately connected with her secretary. "Get Paul Levesque up here right away."

"Yes ma'am."

More than ten minutes went by before Paul arrived, presumably an attempt to get under her skin by not responding immediately. He at least bothered to knock before entering the office and as he did so Laura noticed that he was limping slightly. Apparently his knee was causing him pain but this did not stop him from smiling and greeting her quietly with, "What's up, you fancied some more?" Any other employee would nervously or at least respectfully begin with good afternoon but of course not Paul. Getting Paul in line was going to be a virtually impossible task and even if it was possible god only knew how long it would take. Deliberately keeping her voice neutral she gestured and ordered, "Sit down Paul. Why are you limping?"

The familiar smirk appeared on the face of her employee as he he sat opposite her. "As I remember it there were two hot chicks fighting over me and I twisted my knee trying to separate them. One of them was naked and god damn she was hot."

Already more than tired of being referred to so disrespectfully somehow Laura kept a level head, something that rarely happened at the best of times, as she asked, 'Do you actually enjoy being such a bastard?"

Paul seemed to grow serious now and the arrogance and sarcasm were missing from his voice as he responded, "Let me just ask, why am I a bastard? I mean seriously? I sleep with Stephanie McMahon and specifically tell her that it's just sex yet she lets herself get pregnant and I'm a bastard. You and I have a drink together then you come to my room and practically throw yourself at me, we have sex that we both thoroughly enjoy and then my wife walks in which surprised me as much as it did you and for that reason I'm a bastard? Do you want to explain any of this or should we just arrange a time and place to make a night of it?"

For the briefest of moments Laura found herself considering the proposal and she despised herself for it but then she remembered how she felt when Trish had walked into the room and the prospect of losing her marriage had suddenly loomed large. There was no way that it could happen again. "It's not going to happen again Paul, ever. The knee, how bad is it?"

The news that she was not interested in more sex was taken in Paul's stride. Perhaps it had already been obvious and he had just been toying with her? "I expected it to be worse than it is. It hurt a lot last night but this morning it wasn't swollen so I might have gotten off lightly. I'll be extra careful with it for a week or so."

"Paul, talk to Stephanie," Laura blurted out, taking him completely by surprise "She's carrying your child for god's sake man. This isn't a game. You're going to be a father. Having a child is an amazing thing."

"Wasn't amazing for you was it?" Paul felt guilty immediately as he said it. Pushing her buttons was one thing but that had been outright cruel. It had came out before he could stop it and the hurt look on the woman's face in front of him was not nice to see and she almost whispered, "Oh you bastard. Get out."

"Laura I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

"Just get out Paul. You're a disgusting human being. You're the lowest of the low and you'll die a lonely miserable bastard and it will be nothing short of what you deserve. Get out. Now. Get out of my office and get out of my building."

Paul limped towards the door without offering a further apology. He had clearly hurt Laura too much for that right now. He would have to apologise another time and make it good. As for right now he would do as asked and go home to his condo. His empty condo. Everyone kept telling him that he would be lonely but his empty condo would be perfect right now. As the elevator descended he felt anger rapidly building inside him both with himself for this latest act of stupidity and for everything else that fate was dealing him. A seemingly never ending knee injury, a divorce and an unwanted child. It was all he could do not to punch the elevator doors before they slid open to reveal the lobby.

Only moments later Shane McMahon pulled his car into the parking lot of WWE headquarters and parked in an available spot. "How do we find this guy Paul?" He asked his sister. As he looked over at her she pointed straight ahead, "It won't be hard. There he is now." The driver's door was already flying open.


	34. Chapter 34

As Paul made his way across the parking lot, still fuming with himself for how he had spoken to Laura he heard a man shout behind him across the parking lot somewhere, "Hey! Stop!" Assuming that it was directed at someone else he continued towards his car, more worried about the fact that driving was going to be painful with this latest setback to his knee injury.

The voice came again, closer this time, "Hey! I said stop!" Now thinking that it could be possible that he was indeed the person being shouted at Paul turned around and his eyes widened at what they saw. Stephanie McMahon was walking towards him across the parking lot but even closer to him was a guy, _that_ guy! The guy that Paul had seen in her condo that day and completely forgotten about. The other man that had been with her and was now coming over to get in his face. This was going to be 'you got my girlfriend pregnant', Paul knew it for sure. "You got a problem, asshole?" He demanded of the still approaching man who had a look of thunder on his face. Amusing. This clown did not look like anything, he was shorter than Paul and nothing like as big.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" The man demanded furiously as he reached Paul and then got in his face before continuing to scream, "You fucking got her pregnant..."

There was no way Paul was going to have this dick yelling right in his face like that. Stephanie was now jogging over and yelling for the guy, Shane apparently, to back off. Paul decided to get him started on that with a violent shove in the chest which sent him reeling a few paces backwards as Paul warned, "Fuck off before I drop you."

Still not taking the hint the man, Shane, came charging back at him as he raged, "Fuck you! I'll..."

The threat was never completed as Paul swung his right fist but luckily for Shane he had quick reactions and he was able to sway out of the way of the punch and stagger backwards as Stephanie screamed his name again before finally arriving on the scene seconds later as Paul urged, "Let's go asshole. I'll put you in a fucking coma." Stephanie got in between them and pleaded with the man, "Shane back off. Back off please."

"What the fuck is your game, getting your boyfriend in my face?" Paul demanded of Stephanie and then addressed the mystery man once more, "You're fucking lucky that didn't connect."

The man growled back, "She's my sister you fucking prick. You got my sister pregnant and you're treating her like shit. You think no one is going to stand up for her?" Well damn, the guy was her brother. It probably would not be a good idea to put him in hospital. Suddenly Paul wondered what the hell he was doing for the second time in minutes. He had been incredibly rude and spiteful to Laura for no good reason and now had been an inch away from putting this guy's lights out which would have been assault and would have seen him get arrested and maybe even charged which in turn would likely have cost him his job, Triple H or not. On the many previous occasions recently that he had given himself advice he had gone on to ignore it and invariably it had been a bad decision as the advice had been right all along. Not this time, this time he would take his own advice. It was time to pull his head in a little as getting arrested was something that absolutely could not happen. He could not punch this guy. This situation needed to be brought under control.

"Nothing to say now? Huh?" Shane was still raging at him from the other side of Stephanie who was looking her brother in the eye and encouraging him to calm down, "Shane you promised me on the way down here. Don't do this, not this way. Calm down."

"She's right, let's calm down. A fight is not going to help either of us, least of all you." Paul placated as best he could, sounding much calmer than moments before. He was impressed with himself.

"Calm down? Calm down after how you've treated my sister?" Shane was still angry but he was no longer screaming. "Shane, calm down," Stephanie repeated once more and after a few seconds Shane held up his hands to signal that he was going to stop raging. "Okay. Okay." His attention turned to Paul again as Stephanie stepped aside, "But I came down here because I'm not standing for the way you're treating her. You got her pregnant damn it and you're not going to walk away like nothing's fucking happened. Our family situation is complicated and Stephanie will need help with the baby. You're the father and you're going to fucking act like it, am I clear on that?"

Still there was the incredible temptation for Paul to tell this guy to get fucked and ask who he hell he thought he was talking to but somehow he resisted it and he was impressed with himself at what he came up with instead. "Look, are we going to stand here arguing in the parking lot or shall we go somewhere? If we're going to talk let's do it like adults. I presume that's why you came down here?"

"Yes. Yes it is." It was Stephanie who had decided to answer, "Shall we go inside or something?"

Paul snorted, "No way. Molinaro is pissed at me, I was on my way home. Lets, I don't know, get coffee or something?" It felt incredibly awkward to even suggest sitting down over coffee with this woman who he barely knew, who was carrying his baby and with her brother who he had only just met and thrown a punch at. His life was starting to become a real disaster. What the hell had happened to him and his life over the last few months? How had he let things get this bad, this out of control? He needed to sort his shit out and stop acting like a fucking idiot and do it fast. It was one thing to make this realisation but that did not mean that he had any intention of being a father to a baby with a woman that he wanted nothing to do with, a woman who by her own admission hated him. He needed to make that perfectly clear to both of them. Realistically he had to face the fact that the child was his so he was going to have to make payments or something. He did not know how any of this worked at all but he imagined that if he refused Stephanie could get a court order or something to make him do it so what was the point fighting her on it? It was not as if he could not afford the money so why go through the hassle? A divorce was bad enough.

Shane and Stephanie agreed to follow him somewhere to get a coffee and talk this mess through and they separated and headed for their vehicles. Ten minutes later they were seated in a booth near the back of a coffee bar and had ordered drinks. Paul felt awkward to say the least and he could see that the two people opposite him felt the same way. No one seemed to know how to begin the conversation now that it was at hand. Deciding that he may as well be the first to make himself clear Paul took up the challenge. "Look Stephanie, let's be honest. I don't like you or want anything to do with you and by your own admission you hate me. This is a real mess. You're pregnant and it's mine, I get that and I know that I'll have to make, what would you call it? Financial contributions?"

It seemed that now that he was at least sitting down and talking with Stephanie Shane was going to keep quiet and let them discuss this between the two of them however Stephanie was not happy with his opening statement. "So that's it? Throw some money at me, at us, and we'll disappear? That's all you think of your child?"

His child. He just could not get his head around the fact that he was going to be the father of a child, active father or not, it was just crazy and Stephanie was not getting the message. "Do you really think I'm going to be a father to this kid? I'm not the kind of guy to be a father, I don't want to be a father and neither of us want to be around each other. If you don't want to bring a child up by yourself then you need to think again about abortion."

As it was delivered in a much more measured way than the first time this mention of abortion did not send Stephanie off the deep end, instead she turned to her brother for assistance or advice of some kind. "Shane?" A moment of silence went by before Shane responded, sounding reluctant, "He does make a good point Steph. If the two of you can't stand each other it's not really practical for you to be around each other, especially with a child in the picture is it? You're definitely decided against abortion?"

"I'm not killing my baby because he doesn't want it," Stephanie insisted vehemently as she gestured across the table at Paul. The drinks arrived at the table at that moment which gave everyone a few moments of thinking time. Paul sipped his drink despite how incredibly hot it was as he wondered who would speak next. He had nothing to add himself at this point.

Eventually it was Shane who spoke, and he addressed Paul, "You're not even willing to take the child at weekends? Or even every other weekend? Anything to give Steph a break? My wife and I will help out too." Paul was determined that no matter how much they tried to force him into it he was not going to get involved with this kid. He had never wanted kids and he did not want one now. If Stephanie insisted on keeping it that was her decision but she could not force him to take an interest or even worse to actually take the kid on at weekends. No way was that happening. "No. I don't want a kid. Stephanie if you want to keep it that's your decision but you can't make me get involved with it, neither of you can because that's my decision. I'll pay what I have to pay and that's it."

The two people opposite him did not attempt to hide their distaste from him but it did not really matter to him. What importance did the opinions of these two people really have? None. Stephanie had barely touched her drink but she now seemed keen to leave as she turned to Shane again, "I can't believe this. Let's just go."

In a way Paul had to respect Shane because although he must still be furious he was hiding it well and still trying to fight his sister's corner as best he could by keeping his voice calm, "Have you not thought about any of the positives of having a child? Sure this situation is a mess and no matter what it will be awkward but being a father I'm sure is an amazing thing in a lot of ways."

Although he was now getting tired of the this conversation as Paul drank some of his coffee he decided that it would be best if this discussion, if that was what it could be called, could end without another argument or fist fight so he kept his own voice calm as Shane had done. "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this. I've agreed to do whatever I'm required to in terms of financial support but I am not interested in being a part of this kid's life. I can't be any clearer. I never wanted a kid and I still don't want one. I'm going to get out of here."

Both people looked at him in disgust and Stephanie shook her head slightly as if in disbelief as he downed his coffee and slapped a twenty on the table. "These are on me." With that he stood and walked out of the coffee bar feeling pleased with himself at how well he thought he had dealt with the awkward situation. If he could deal with the other things that were making his life such a mess right now equally as well things would start to improve quickly.

As he got into his car he decided that he needed to contact Trish and tell her that he would not contest the divorce, it would be best just to cut her out of his life at this point, to let her go. He also needed to apologise to Laura for his distasteful remark earlier as it would have undoubtedly hurt her and she had not deserved it. Hell, she had been trying to give him useful advice at the time. He was not sure why, but she had. When both of those things were done he could focus on his creative work and on getting his knee fully healed. At least when all was said and done he would be the Head of Creative for WWE and would soon be back in the ring competing in main event matches too. He was the only one who could ruin that for himself and now he realised it.

Yes, his life was a wreck right now but he had at last realised what he needed to do to move forward so it could only improve from this point.


	35. Chapter 35

The light was already beginning to fade with afternoon about to become evening as Paul pulled his car out of the lot near to the coffee bar. He made a right turn to head back towards his condo which was now his residence again due to his now permanent separation from Trish but as he drove he found himself thinking that as he had handled the encounter with Stephanie and her brother so well he might as well continue. With that in mind he decided to head back to the office and speak to Laura. She was due an apology and a good one for the incredibly rude and insensitive remark he had made earlier which had caused her to ask him to leave the building. He turned at the next intersection and just over ten minutes later he was riding the elevator up to the top floor of WWE headquarters, hoping that Laura had not headed home as yet. As he entered her outer office he approached the secretaries desk and asked, "Is Laura still in?"

"Yes sir." The secretary picked up her phone, "I'll call through for you."

Paul gave her a dismissive hand gesture, "Don't bother. I'll just go in." The secretary did not respond but replaced the phone as Paul headed for the door to Laura's office. It was likely that the hot tempered woman inside was going to explode at him and immediately order him back out of the building but if she did at least he could say that he had made the effort to come back and apologise. He pushed the door open and walked in but when the boss looked up and saw him the reaction was not what he had anticipated. Rather than an explosion of anger her voice was closer to a sigh of resignation as she ran a hand through her black hair and the words she spoke as he closed the door took him even more by surprise.

"You're still here after I told you to leave? Fine, if this is what you want to hear so badly you can hear it. I give up. I admit it, I can't manage you. I've tried everything with you, anger, gamesmanship, giving you what you want, hell I even tried being kind and trying to help you earlier and nothing works so there you are, you win. I don't know where to go from here with you but this working relationship is unsustainable. I need to consider replacing you as..."

Clearly Laura had gotten the wrong end of the stick about his reason for being here so Paul held up a hand to stop her mid sentence. Previously he would have found these admissions that he was hearing satisfying and amusing and probably would have used them to gain an advantage of some kind over the woman sitting in front of him but now that he was determined to stop acting like such a prick to everyone and start to turn his life around he instead to chose to go down a different path as he sat down in one of the comfortable leather chairs in front of the desk. "I didn't come here for an argument or to give you any more grief. I came to apologise for earlier. What I said to you was way out of line, especially as you were trying to give me advice at the time. I'm sorry, that's what I came in here to say, so calm down."

Several seconds passed in silence as Laura looked at him blankly, obviously trying to decide if he was for real or still playing some kind of game that she was not understanding. "You came to apologise?" She asked doubtfully.

"I did. I was out of line. You tried to help me and I spoke to you like shit for no reason. Why did you try to give me advice anyway? Why would you care?"

Again there was silence. Maybe Laura was trying to figure out how to phrase her answer? Eventually it came and again Paul was surprised by what he heard. "Honestly? I think you've got problems Paul. It would be easy to assume that you're just an asshole but I really don't think anyone could be as much of an asshole as consistently as you have been recently. I think you need help or at the very least someone to talk to. I may not be, hell I know I'm not, the best person to comment on someone's emotional stability but you're something else. Look at the way you've ruined your marriage and gotten Stephanie pregnant in the space of a few weeks. Look at how upset Stephanie is with all of this. You even talked me into sleeping with you and I've been feeling like crap ever since. Despite all of that and almost despite myself I find myself wanting to help you because ending this craziness would be best for both of us but of course you're going to call me a stupid bitch, tell me to keep my nose out of your business and storm out, right? Go ahead."

Paul was stunned to say the least. Not only stunned that far from exploding at him or hating him Laura was offering help but also stunned at the realisation that help, or at least to talk to someone, might be what he needed. Part of him wanted to tell Laura that he was a man, a man's man at that, and therefore did not need help to run his own life, least of all from a woman but another, larger part of him considered that to be exactly the kind of response and attitude was what had gotten him to this point. The reality of it was that without doubt Laura was partially correct, he was ruining his own life very quickly with the way he was treating those around him and he had already been trying and failing to stop himself from doing so for some time. His marriage was already over because of it. It was too late to fix that now but maybe if he talked to someone he could get his head straight? Even if this was the case he was still not convinced that Laura was the one to talk to, why would she be interested in taking on his problems? "Let's just say that if, and I do mean if, I decided to talk to someone why would it be you?"

"Who else have you got?"

It was a simple but poignant response. Aside from his parents who did he have? No one that was who. He had drifted away from his friends during his marriage with Trish and now she was out of his life too. There was always the option of his parents but no, he did want to turn to them. Maybe he could have done earlier but now it was too much of a mess to try to explain to them. At least if he spoke to Laura he would not have to explain to her what had happened because she already knew most of it. Even so he still needed to know why she was interested in helping him. "Good point. I'm not going to my parents that's for sure. This is crazy. I'm not the kind of guy to do something like this. Anyway why would you care? You didn't answer that properly just now when I asked."

He watched as Laura looked down at her desk, one finger of her right hand nervously tapping on the surface of it as she seemed once more to struggle in putting together a response. Paul prepared to be surprised again and he was not disappointed. "You're like no one else I've ever managed, ever worked with. You'll think I'm crazy and so do I as frankly I never considered the possibility of saying this to an employee as I insist on keeping my distance from my staff but I like you. Not in the sense that you would prefer judging by that night in the hotel but I enjoy the way we go at each other for reactions, the banter, even the way we piss each other off to the extreme at times. I even told you about Angel, not that I don't regret it now. What I'm trying to say is that you're someone that I could call a friend Paul. My goodness that sounded so lame. Put my in charge of a board meeting and I can talk all afternoon but give me a situation like this and I can't explain myself properly at all."

What she had said did sound lame but even so the words struck a cord with Paul. Laura had something there, if she was a guy she would be exactly the kind of person he would be friends with. She had exactly the kind of personality that he gelled with. This was totally crazy and the very last thing that he would have imagined as he came in here intending to deliver and apology and then leave but it was happening and it was his turn to say something, but what? Should he politely reject Laura's offer of a friendly ear, of friendship, leave and attempt to fix his wreck of a life in his own way or should he spill everything to the woman sitting opposite him?

Laura spoke before he could, "Ignore me Paul. It's just these last few days, I've been thinking about Angel and feeling guilty about what we did. My head is a mess and I'm not thinking clearly or making sense. Just go home and forget what I said. I'll see you tomorrow huh?" Clearly she figured that the reason he had not responded was due to him thinking that what she had said was ridiculous but that was not the case and he reached a decision. "No. What you say does make sense, in a way at least. I don't know if we can be what you could call friends but I do need to talk to someone. Honestly I'm struggling to stop myself wrecking my life. I don't want to be doing half of the shit that I'm doing and yet I do it anyway. For a start you wouldn't believe how many times I told myself not to keep thinking about cheating on Trish with you but when I saw you in that bar..."

"Don't Paul," Laura cut in, "I don't want to talk about that please."

"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that anyway. What I'm trying to say is that I try to convince myself not to do stuff because I know it's wrong and it will end up causing shit or upsetting people but I just, I do it anyway. Now I'm divorced, or soon to be, and a woman who hates me is carrying my child, a child that I don't want. Everything is a mess Laura."

Paul wondered what Laura was doing as instead of responding to him she reached down and started doing something with her desk. The answer was revealed a moment later as she placed a bottle of Jack Daniels on the top of the desk and then a bottle of coke and two glasses. "What are you, an alcoholic?" He quipped with a smile.

A hint of a smile was returned. "I've taken to having one of these before I head home most nights. This job is a lot of damn stress sometimes, especially with people like you." Paul laughed as she began to pour coke into her glass. He would usually only drink beer but decided on this occasion to accept the drink that was about to be prepared for him partly because he could use the alcohol but also so as not to be rude. A few moments later Laura reached over the desk and handed his drink to him. "Thank you."

After making a start with her own drink and clearly savouring it Laura returned to the conversation with a little laugh, "This was a bad idea. I have no idea what to advise you about doing things that you tell yourself not to do. If anything I'm the last person you should ask about that, you know how I go off at people. I'm totally unable to control my temper, always have been. God only knows how that poor woman out there hasn't quit before now. I wouldn't do her job no matter what the salary was."

It was plain that Laura was referring to her secretary and Paul laughed once more, "Neither would I. I'd kill you the first day, or you'd kill me. Either way someone would end up dead."

The hint of a smile returned again, "You. You would end up dead." Then Laura's voice grew more serious, "Paul?"

"What?" Paul drank some of his drink, not particularly liking the taste.

"The baby. Why are you so against it?"

He had known that this was coming. Everything was starting to be about this damn baby. How could he explain to a woman who had lost a child of her own and was obviously and understandably still hurting because of it that he wanted nothing to do with his child? It felt strange to even think of it as his child. He was not the kind of person to be a father and never would be. Not only that he and Stephanie hated each other. He had to answer the question with something and the truth was the only logical choice. What would be the point in agreeing to talk things through with Laura and then bullshitting her? "I'm just not the kind of person to be a father. I've never wanted kids, I don't like kids and I don't want one now. I don't want the hassle, I don't want the responsibility and I don't want to have to deal with Stephanie. I don't like her and she hates me, that much is obvious."

His expectation had been to receive a look of disapproval from Laura but he did not get one. Instead she looked like she was attempting to see things his way, failing, but attempting nonetheless. "Does Stephanie not want you in the child's life? You must have spoken to her, surely?"

"I have, not half an hour ago. She showed up in the parking lot with her brother when I was leaving earlier. We went for a coffee and talked briefly. I made it clear to her where I stand."

Once more Laura seemed to require time to finalise what she wanted to say. "Stephanie is scared Paul. She's what, twenty two? She's about to become a single mother and the impression that I got from our brief conversation is that she's not counting on much help from her family. This is your child Paul, your son or your daughter. Do you really want him or her struggling as they grow up? Do you not want the best for your child?"

This was frustrating. Even though she was trying to help Laura was not getting it, not seeing it from his point of view. It was not a question of what he wanted for the child, he did not want the child at all. He did not want to be a father. If Stephanie and the child needed help they needed to find it elsewhere. "Look, you don't understand. I get that it sounds strange to you but I simply don't want a kid. I don't want it."

Now Laura seemed to be getting upset and when she spoke this was confirmed. "I hate the idea of that child, any child, struggling and that is what will happen if Stephanie has to bring it up alone. She might be a great mother or she might not but either way she's going to need help."

"So help her then," Paul blurted out without thinking. Laura looked at him quizzically as she drank from her glass then as she set it back down she asked, "What?" It was a good question. Why the hell had he just said what he had said? He decided that he might as well finish putting the thought out there at least. "It's stupid. I just, I don't know, you're obviously keen to have a child and Stephanie needs help with hers, ours, so why don't you like, help her?"

There was no pause this time before the response came, "Are you insane? I don't even know Stephanie, why on Earth would she have any interest in that even if I made the offer?"

"I don't know her any better than you do. I slept with her a handful of times and she spent a couple of weeks on and off at my condo, that's it. Anyway I said it was stupid, forget it." Silence descended as Laura stared down into the small amount of liquid that remained in her glass. It was apparent to Paul that she was thinking about her daughter again and he felt the need to say something. "Laura, about Angel. I really am sorry. It must have been, well there isn't a word to use."

Laura looked up at him and those beautiful green eyes glistening with tears, "It was heart breaking. I live the moment that I was told that she had died every day and it never gets easier. I can never carry a baby again, I'll never be a mother Paul." He was not sure if she meant that she was unable to have a baby again due to a physical or mental reason and he certainly was not going to ask. He finished his drink and gently set the glass down on Laura's desk. "I didn't mean to upset you again and it's getting late. I'm going to head home. Where's your husband? Don't you usually leave before now?"

"Dan's out of town until tomorrow so I've only got an empty house to go back to." Suddenly she attempted to snap out of it, "Listen to me. I offered to listen to your problems and instead I'm lumbering you with mine." With that she picked up the phone on her desk and was apparently connected to her secretary. "Michelle have my car ready, I'm leaving in a moment. Thank you." She replaced the phone, stood and began to put on the black suit jacket that had been hanging over the back of her chair.

Paul was not sure if this conversation had actually helped either of them but the chance to talk to someone at least felt like it had lifted a weight of some kind from him. His life was still a disaster but at least now he felt confident in his ability not to make it any worse as he decided to wait for Laura and walk her to her car. A couple of minutes later after tidying her desk and closing down her computer Laura was ready to leave and they made their way to the elevator. Once inside Paul smiled, "Thanks for tonight. I don't know if we actually achieved anything but..." He left the sentence unfinished as there really was no ending.

"Yeah, it's just good to talk sometimes huh?"

The elevator reached the lobby and as they walked out of the entrance Laura's immaculately polished black car, whatever it was, gleamed as it reflected the lights from the building. The driver was waiting and he opened the rear door and held it as Paul said, "Goodnight then."

Laura gave him a small nod and a smile, "Goodnight _amico._" This time the word was meant literally and with that she disappeared into the car and the door was closed behind her. Seconds later it drove away leaving Paul standing in the cold and now almost empty lot. As he walked towards his car a smile came to him. Today was the day, at long last, that his life had turned a corner. He had spoken to Stephanie and Shane like an adult instead of like an idiot and then of all things had formed some strange kind of friendship, if that was what it could be called right now, with Laura Molinaro. His divorce would soon be finalised and his knee would be healed soon also. The only real problem he had now was the baby.


	36. Chapter 36

During the two weeks that had passed since the encounter with Paul in the coffee bar Stephanie had gradually had a change of heart and she was now a lot less disappointed with how it had gone. In an ideal world Paul would have been the kind of guy who would have been happy to be involved in the life of his son or daughter even if he was not interested in her but he had made clear that there was no way that was going to be the case. Initially she had been disgusted with him and furious but now she was glad that he wanted nothing to with their, her, child. The influence of that kind of person was not what she wanted around her child as he or she grew up. It was sad that there would not be a father figure in the picture but that was by far the lesser of two evils.

As for right now there were more immediate concerns than what would happen months from now when her baby arrived in the world. Right now she was supposed to be memorising her script for tonight's Raw and this was the third time that she had let her mind wander part way through it. She tried again but once more she did not even make it half way through before becoming distracted. This was no good at all. The truth was that the baby was already having an effect on her work because the worry and stress that it was bringing were causing things exactly like this to happen. She was unable to focus on what she was doing and if it continued it would inevitably lead to mistakes. She looked around the women's locker room from her position sitting in the corner of it on a steel chair. Now that her pregnancy was common knowledge, or maybe it was because she had slapped the taste out of Brie Bella's mouth, either way the sniping and outright bullying that she had been suffering had stopped but she was still not welcomed into any of the conversations as the others were. She was in the same locker room as them but she was still isolated from them. The loss of the respect and friendship of her fellow divas was just one more negative to result from her brief involvement with Paul. She realised that a friend in this place was what she needed most right now. If only she had a friend or two she would be able to return to work when her child was old enough and she had regained her fitness and someone would be able to mind the child for her when she was in the ring. Not knowing much at all about raising a child she was unsure how old he or she would need to be before it was practical for them to live on the road but right now it seemed academic.

By nature she was a nervous person but now she was trying to work up the courage to speak to the other divas as a group and to openly ask for their future help. It seemed that it was the only way to save her career as she was in no doubt that Paul would not give a damn if she went to him with his. Even if she asked him to mind the child just for the time that she was needed in the ring she was sure that he would react angrily and turn her away with a bunch of swearing and abuse. In any case she had already decided that she did not want him around her child. No, she either got help from one or more of the women in this room or she was going to have to give up her dream job. She saw no other alternative. Maybe the best course of action was to be totally honest and to tell them the truth about what had happened with Paul? Yes, she had known that he was married to Trish and she had slept with him anyway and that meant that she was regarded as a slut and a bitch and in a way this was understandable and even deserved but the other divas seemed to be equally if not more annoyed about the fact that they believed that her career had been advanced a lot more rapidly than she deserved due to the fact that she had been sleeping with Paul the whole time which was of course untrue. It felt as if this was some kind of final chance to save her dream job so she decided to bite the bullet and hope against hope that it worked out for the best. After taking a couple of deep breaths for courage she stood and addressed the room as whole, cutting off a conversation between Nikki, Brie and AJ. "Guys can I just say something to you all for a minute, please?" No one objected or talked over her so she got right into it, "Listen, I know that none of you like what I did, sleeping with Paul behind Trish's back and I understand that. I knew that they were married and I shouldn't have slept with him but..."

"Give us a break Stephanie," Brie cut in, "We all know how you got that crazy push as soon as you showed up here. You were obviously with Paul the whole time. How was it that you put it Cam? Fucking her way to the top?"

"Right," Cameron agreed, "We saw you in that bar so save your bullshit. You're only coming with this now because he got you pregnant and then kicked you to the curb. We all see through you, right girls?" A bunch of positive responses came and Stephanie's heart sank. This was not working out at all. She tried once more, "You're right, you did see us in that bar but I swear to you that night was the first time I slept with him. Paul gave me the push, put me on Raw and gave me the General Manager storyline before anything happened between us. I can't go on like this with all of you hating me. I know why you do if you think that's what happened but I promise you that it wasn't. Paul used me, got me pregnant and now he wants nothing to do with me or the baby. He's ruined my life. My mistake of sleeping with him has ruined my life."

"I'm not listened to this BS. Come on Nikki." Brie led her sister to the door and the twins were gone. If anything this was probably a good thing. AJ spoke next and Stephanie looked at her hopefully. If anyone was going to take her side it was likely to be AJ as she was the only one who did not speak to her like a piece of garbage. "Why are you telling us this? Why are you so keen to, what, set the record straight?"

Stephanie decided to continue being honest. "Because I don't want having my baby to end my career. I want to be able to come back here as soon as I can and I want to be able to leave my son or daughter with some of you guys while I'm in the ring. I know you guys would do it for each other, I just want to be part of the group. That's all I ask. Please?" It sounded a lot more pathetic than she had intended it to but it was out there now. The faces that looked back at her did not seem very sympathetic and no one seemed to want to speak first. After a long moment Naomi took up the challenge, "That night in the bar, I remember we called you out on this thing with Paul and you denied it before he walked in. I remember thinking that I wasn't as sure as Cam was because you looked genuinely surprised. You swear to me again that was the first time and that you didn't get pushed over all of us because you were with him the whole time."

"I swear to you. That night was the first time that I slept with him. I slept with him that night, then you guys told Trish and it all blew up. I slept with him again after that but then he got the injury and it kind of ended there. I didn't say or do anything to get the push that he gave me. I didn't screw you guys over in any way. I wouldn't do that, I swear."

Emma was next up and she still seemed to doubt a part of what she had heard, "You say that you're telling us all of this because you need help with your child when you're on the road. Forgive me for stating the obvious but Paul works here. You can leave your child, his child with him. Why are you so desperate for our help?"

"Firstly Paul openly told me that he wants nothing to do with me or the baby and that he wants me to abort it and secondly the guy is an asshole. He's the scum of the Earth and I don't want him anywhere near my son or daughter. His influence can be nothing but bad. I'm just asking for a little help from you guys, that's all." Stephanie watched and waited as the women looked at each other. Some still did not seem convinced but eventually AJ spoke. "Okay guys I believe her. As you know I've been telling you to stop giving her such a hard time and now I'll tell you why and why I believe her. Paul is a total prick, he tried to make a move on me some time back. Obviously I rejected him but it just shows the kind of guy he is. He knows that I'm married and he was married to Trish then too but still he came on to me. He thinks he's god's gift and all he has to do is come on to a woman and they will jump into bed with him. I believe what she says, I believe she fell for his shit and I believe what she says about how he's treating her. Stephanie if you need help with your child or with anything else you can come to me."

A huge weight lifted itself from Stephanie and she felt tears coming to her eyes at the kind way that AJ had delivered the final sentence. AJ, who was now fielding questions from the other women about her revelation concerning Paul, would never know how much that sentence or indeed her whole speech meant to her. "Thank you. Thank you so much." Suddenly she found herself trying to blink the tears away as they seemed intent on escaping her as the realisation that there was light at the end of the tunnel began to sink in. She no longer had to sit in the locker room like some kind of outcast. She no longer had to think about how many weeks of her career she had left before it came to an end. She no longer had to worry so much about what the future held for both herself and her child. AJ's words had helped with all of those things and maybe some of the other women would now follow suit?

"I'll help out if you need me to. Emma and I both will, right?" Paige offered a hint of a smile to Stephanie as she turned to her closest friend in the locker room. "Yeah," Emma nodded. Now the tide seemed to have turned as Naomi walked over and put an arm around her, "Damn girl. That guy is something else huh? Don't cry." Stephanie was trying her best not to cry and after wiping at her eyes several times she managed to control herself. "I'll go and get Nikki and Brie back in here," Paige announced as she headed for the door. Stephanie sat down, this time not on a chair in the corner but on one of the benches next to Natalya and for the first time in a very long time she was involved in a conversation with the other women who now seemed keen to talk about the prospect of minding her baby for her.

Several minutes later Paige, Nikki and Brie returned to the locker room. Stephanie looked over expectantly at the new arrivals as Brie closed the door. She then began to speak and it seemed to surprise even her sister. "Paige just told us what you said Stephanie, and what you said AJ. If I tell you all something can we all agree that it goes no further than this room?" Everyone voiced their agreement so Brie continued, "I slept with Paul too. By the sound of it he came onto Stephanie in much the same way as he did to me. I slept with him because I genuinely thought that he wanted to be with me but when I tried to speak to him about it he blew me off. When all this blew up with you Stephanie I kind of got the impression that he ditched me for you but I guess I was wrong, so I'm sorry."

"Oh shit Brie, that bastard," Nikki said as she wrapped an arm around her sister. Simultaneously Stephanie smiled and nodded her acceptance of the apology and Nikki was quickly assured, "I'm fine. I'm with Daniel now so I don't give a damn about that prick. At least we all know what he's like now."

Still smiling Stephanie held up her script, "Can anyone help me with reading through this please?"

"I will," Brie answered without hesitation and walked over and sat down next to Stephanie with a smile of her own. As she worked through the script Stephanie felt that she had just turned a corner, not only with the women she worked with but in her life as a whole. She did not need Paul to be part of her life or the life of her child. That bastard could end up alone and miserable just as she had told him that he would. As she had that day when Paul had told her that he was going back to Trish she told herself that if Paul ever came back to her now, showing an interest in her or the child she would give him exactly the response that he deserved.


	37. Chapter 37

A delighted smile had been fixed on Stephanie's face a long time before she entered the women's locker room and it was immediately noticed by Nikki and Brie Bella. The reason for the smile was that Stephanie had news and something to show to the other divas.

"Hey Steph," Nikki greeted as Brie smiled, "What are you so happy about?" The slap in the face that Brie had received from Stephanie was now long since forgotten about as was the bullying that Stephanie had received from some of the divas. "What am I happy about? Look." Stephanie took something out of the pocket of her leather jacket and held it out towards the twins who were the only two divas present in the room to Stephanie's disappointment.

"What do you have there?" Brie took the item from Stephanie and then took in a breath sharply, "Oh, Steph!" Nikki peered over her sister's shoulder, "Oh!"

"My baby, my son," Stephanie announced proudly. The item that Brie was holding was a picture of Stephanie's twenty week scan. Brie repeated her previous words, "Oh, Steph! You're having a boy? That's amazing."

"Congratulations, everything was okay?" Nikki asked, still looking at the picture.

"Yeah, everything's great. I've only got another couple of weeks on the road before this General Manager storyline ends. I uh... don't know if I'll be back."

"Why?" The twins exclaimed in unison. The answer was simple; Stephanie was not sure about coming back on the road with her baby. It was true that this was her dream job and all that she had ever wanted to do but the fact was that she was going to be a mother and that meant that the needs of her child must have priority over her own ambitions. While it was true that the other divas had made their willingness to help out at the arena more than clear that would only be a fraction of the time on the road and she was not convinced that plane flights and hotel rooms were the right places for a baby to be. "I'm just not sure that coming on the road with him will be a good idea. I know you guys have all offered to help out when I'm at the arena and in the ring but there's more to it than that. There's the travel, the flights, the hotel rooms and all of that and I'm just not sure that I should do it. I have to put my son first and if that means giving this up then that's what I'll have to do."

Stephanie saw the twins glance at each other before Brie spoke, "It's your choice of course if you don't want to bring him on the road but don't feel like you have to give this job up because you don't have help. Nikki and I are happy to help out whenever you need us and I'm sure some of the others are too." Just as Stephanie was about to offer her thanks the locker room door opened and the one person in her life who she could genuinely call a friend walked in. "Hey guys," AJ greeted the three women as she dropped her bag down on the floor. "Steph, how did the scan go yesterday?"

Brie returned the picture to Stephanie who then held it out to AJ with a huge smile, "I'm having a boy." AJ took the picture and delightedly offered congratulations but then her tone changed to something close to disgust, "This reminds me, great timing. Guess who's back here tonight?" It was clear to Stephanie that AJ meant Paul. He had not been on the road with the creative team for at least a month. Word had it that he was focussing full time on the rehab of his knee and returning to full training. Now he was back so he must presumably be ready to return to the ring. "Paul's here? Do you think I should show him the picture?"

"We'll leave you to it," Nikki patted Stephanie on the shoulder and led her sister over to the opposite side of the room, realising that this might be becoming a private conversation between friends. "It's your decision," AJ answered, "Do you really want that asshole in your life even if he does stop being a prick long enough to show an interest?"

"In my life? Hell no. I'd be more than happy to never see him again but it's not just me is it? He's my son's father and I don't think it would be fair for him not to have a father in his life, if it's possible. I know what it's like to live without parents and it's horrible."

AJ had heard Stephanie's story of how her parents had literally disowned her for her refusal to work for the family business to instead pursue her dream of becoming a wrestler. Despite the fact that she had made a success of it to say the least and even the news that their daughter was pregnant things still had not changed. AJ found it appalling that people could be so heartless and she greatly admired how strong Stephanie was in dealing with all of the difficulties in her life. It was at that moment that an idea came to her. Stephanie and Paul were not on speaking terms to say the least and she had no intention of speaking to the guy herself either but rumor had it that there was someone who he considered to be a friend. Frankly speaking to the boss was only a marginally more appealing prospect but it was worth it to potentially help her friend. "Can I just take this picture? Maybe I can get some sense into him."

"You're going to speak to him?" Stephanie sounded understandably less than convinced by what she had assumed was the idea.

"No. I've got a better idea. I'll be back soon." AJ left the locker room before she could face a cross examination and headed off to find the boss' office. She could count the amount of times that she had spoken to Mrs. Molinaro on one hand and probably the total amount of words spoken on two. As did everyone else she knew the reputation the boss had and had heard the stories. Everyone agreed that she was a woman to be avoided when possible and only to be spoken to when she addressed you directly. Given this knowledge she was distinctly nervous as she reached the correct office which as usual had a security guy stationed outside. It was nearly always the same guy, the one who looked like a taller and fatter version of Steve Austin. "Is Mrs. Molinaro inside?" A nod was the only response so AJ knocked on the door and was ordered rather than invited to enter from within.

Making sure than a smile was fixed on her face AJ pushed the door open and walked in. The boss was already looking up from the script that she had been reading through with a look of irritation to see who had interrupted her. "What is it AJ?"

So much for a warm greeting. "I wondered if we could talk for a moment?"

"We are talking and I said what is it?" Jesus Christ, the stories were true. What was it with this woman? The only thing to do was get to the point and do it quickly so she held out the picture of Stephanie's baby scan. "This is a picture of Stephanie's scan. It's awkward but she thinks it's best for the child, her son, if Paul is a part of the babies life and I wondered if you could like, talk to him? People say you are the closest he has to a friend around here and..." AJ let her voice trail off because the boss seemed not to be listening. She had taken the picture and was staring at it with an expression that AJ could not read. If anything there seemed to be sadness in it but what kind of reaction was that to seeing someone's baby scan? "Mrs. Molinaro? Are you okay?"

The boss looked up at her and blinked a couple of times, looking like she had forgotten that there was anyone else in the room. Was this woman wired up correctly? "Leave this with me AJ. I'll speak to Paul and get back to Stephanie myself. Good enough?"

"That's great, thank you. I really appreciate it and so will Stephanie." A slight nod was the only response as AJ hurriedly left the office.

Once she was alone in the office Laura looked at the baby scan once more and then closed her eyes tightly. There was no way that AJ could have known how painful this was for her. Her relationship with Paul was not what she would exactly call a friendship but he had certainly gotten to be a lot easier to manage now that they would occasionally share a drink together or have a chat when time allowed in the office. It seemed that he was getting his head straight and had successfully completed his rehab and training. Indeed tonight was his return to TV, not in a match but he was going interfere in the main event and resume his rivalry with Daniel Bryan by preventing him from winning the WWE title when he seemed to have it won. If any night was the night to catch Paul in a good mood and try once more to talk sense into him regarding his child, his son, that night had to be tonight. With that in mind she headed for Paul's locker room with the scan picture in her pocket.

Finally, after so long, so much stress, pain and rehab the nightmare was over for Paul. There was no need to change out of his jeans and Triple H t-shirt for tonight's segment and he had not been issued with a script as he had no lines to deliver. His only job of the night was to come through the crowd to ringside in order to pull a referee out of the ring at the right time. The rest of the work would be done by the commentators but even so it felt great just to be going back out there. The heat that screwing Bryan out of the title would generate would be great. Another three weeks would go by before he actually wrestled for the first time since the injury when he took on Bryan at the next pay per view which would give him even more time to reach peak condition. This was the only drawback to now being single; there was no one to share the enjoyment with. Even so the single life was definitely what he preferred. Never before had he had this much sex. It seemed that all he had to do was walk into a club or bar and he could walk out with some stunning woman, he really was on the top of his game lately and better even than that was that there was now no need to sneak or think about being caught. In its own way that had been a powerful thrill but now he was glad that it was a thing of the past. Simple, easy, enjoyable sex was what he wanted and he was getting it as often as he wanted it. Life in general was great.

A knock came on his locker room door which was strange. He had no friends in the locker room and he liked it that way. The guys in the creative department had been explicitly told not to disturb him. "Yeah?" He yelled. The door opened and Laura walked in with a smile on her face. Who would have thought it at one time? The only person that he got along with on a personal level was the one person who no one else managed to get along with. Maybe that was one of the reasons? "Hey Paul. Welcome back. I bet you can't wait to get out there huh?"

It was strange. Previously the correct greeting had been a handshake but that now felt too formal but he was not the kind of person to greet someone with a hug and probably neither was she so he just smiled and gestured to a steel chair that was already placed near to the bench that he was sitting on. The chair had his bag on it so he tossed it aside to make it available. "Hey. Yeah, really can't wait. It's taken so much longer than I hoped but all of that crap is behind me now."

Laura sat down on the offered chair. "Good. You can get out there now and start earning me money again," she joked. Never being one to waste time when she wanted to talk about something she got right into it as Paul smiled at her weak joke. "So, I've got something here that I think you want to see."

Paul was tempted to say that he had already seen her tits before but that probably would not have amused her. "What?" Laura reached into her pocket and held out the picture to Paul, hoping that it would finally help her to make progress on what she had so far failed to do; get Paul to take an interest in his child. "AJ brought me this. Take a look at your son Paul." The picture was taken from her and Paul looked at it for a long moment.

"Why are you showing me this? How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want a kid? I know what kids mean to you and I'll say it yet again, I'm sorry about your daughter but I do not want a kid. Stephanie decided to keep it so there's nothing I can do about it but get this straight in your head once and for all," he held up the picture for emphasis, "This is not my son."

The picture was held back towards her and Laura had no option but to take it as she wondered how anyone could dismiss their own child like that even if they did not get along with the other parent. "Look, I know you don't get along with Stephanie, the two of you can't stand each other, whatever but you're dead wrong. This is your son. He is your son now, he will be your son when he's born, he will be your son when he takes his first step, he will be your son when he's your age. This is your son for god's sake man."

The impassioned speech had left Laura with tears in her eyes but it still made no breakthrough. "You're upsetting yourself Laura. You're taking this too personally or something." Laura looked at him sadly and shook her head before standing and heading for the door. "One day you'll realise that I'm right Paul and I hope it happens soon."

A moment passed after the white painted door closed behind Laura with Paul staring at it. "Do I look like a father to you?" He asked the woman who was no longer there.


	38. Chapter 38

An early morning run was something that Paul did without fail whenever he was home. His regular four mile circuit was good not only for his fitness but also on days like this Sunday it was a way to blow away the faint hangover that he had woken with. The headache was more than worth it given that there had been sex with an amazing brunette who sadly had not been beside him when he awoke for some more. She had taken off and not left a number which was something that he was fine with, he would not have called her anyway. What was the point when he could pick someone different up whenever he liked? He was just over half way around his circuit when the rain started to fall. "For fuck's sake," he grumbled to himself as he pulled the hood of his light grey hoodie up and over his head without slowing his pace. Unfortunately within two minutes the rain was battering down and also being blown in his face by the wind which had just picked up. Enough was enough so he stopped running and took shelter in the doorway of a store which looked like it sold pre-owned video games for those who chose to waste their lives in front of a TV rather than doing something productive. It was annoying to have his run interrupted but he had no intention of drowning and now the rain was coming down even faster, the huge drops making loud impacts in the rapidly increasing puddles out on the sidewalk.

With nothing else to do to pass the time as he waited for the rain to ideally stop or at least ease significantly he took out his phone. Twitter had sent him a notification to tell him that nine of the people he followed had retweeted a photo. It was strange that they assumed that he would care but nonetheless he touched the notification to see what was so interesting. It was at that moment, standing in the doorway of a store trying to avoid a rain shower, when he found out that his son had entered the world. The picture appeared and it showed Stephanie McMahon sitting up in a hospital bed looking exhausted and in a bit of a state but with a big smile on her face and more importantly a baby in her arms. The caption underneath read: _Meet my son Bodhi McMahon. _It was followed by a bunch of emoticons and there was another tweet giving the time of the birth and the babies weight and confirming that everything was okay.

Unsure what to think he stared at the picture for a long moment before looking back out into the street and seeing that the rain shower had eased significantly already. He returned the phone to his pocket and finished the rest of his run without interruption although something was nagging at him, irritating him and making him angry. When he made it back home to his condo he changed out of the wet clothes and put them in the machine to wash. Only then did he open up the Twitter app again and look at the picture once more. The picture with his son it. Bodhi McMahon. Bodhi? "What kind of fucking name's that?" He mumbled to himself. It was not the first name that irritated him so much though. Bodhi McMahon. He repeated the name aloud to himself as he stood in the kitchen area of his condo, "Bodhi McMahon. McMahon. Fucking McMahon? She called my son McMahon? Fucking bitch."

Yes, he had told Stephanie that he did not think that she should keep the baby and also that he did not have any intention of getting involved with a kid but the fact was that Bodhi was his son, his blood. Bodhi Levesque was the correct name not fucking McMahon. He walked into the living area, still looking at the picture on the screen of his phone. The picture with his son in it. The tiny almost bald headed baby in the picture with his eyes tightly closed was his son. He was a father. This was insane. Suddenly and totally unexpectedly he felt the urge to call Stephanie. Her number was still saved in his phone, assuming that she had not changed it since their last contact. He was torn. Until now he had been in no doubt that he wanted nothing to do with what he had always referred to as Stephanie's baby. Now however, having actually seen a picture of his son and felt the anger at Stephanie's exclusion of his name some other emotions had entered the picture.

A few minutes of contemplation convinced him of one thing; if he called Stephanie it was going to end in an argument, probably a brutal one because he could not trust himself not to lose his temper with her over what she had done. That was if she even answered his call. If she still had his number then there would be very little chance of her accepting the call. Should he do it or not? It was during that moment of indecision that Laura Molinaro's voice started to repeat itself in his head. So many times over the last few months she had gotten on his case about this.

"Paul you need to call Stephanie."

"Speak to Stephanie, Paul."

"You're going to be a father Paul, sort your head out."

"What's wrong with you? Just call her."

"Do you want me to call her for you?"

"Paul speak to Stephanie."

She might be a friend of sorts but Laura definitely could be mad irritating at times. Her advice had the opposite effect to that which she had intended as Paul's stubbornness took control. Laura was not going to decide what he was going to do with his life. He was not going to call Stephanie, instead he was going to stick to what he had told himself all along; show no interest in her or her stupid kid. So what if she called him McMahon instead of Levesque? When all was said and done why should he care? That was the attitude which caused him to miss out on the first three months of his son's life.

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><p>The phone on Paul's desk rang, breaking his concentration on the storyline proposal that he was trying to read. He glared at the offending object but then saw on the display that it was Laura who was calling him directly. The fact that he was probably the only person in the place who she called personally instead of having her secretary do it was worth a small smile of satisfaction as he picked up the phone, "Hello?"<p>

"Paul, come to my office for a moment please."

"Sure." He could hardly say no, he had even merited a please this morning. He headed out of his office and made the short journey up the hallway to Laura's office. What could she want him for? It was the middle of the morning so it was not going to be one of her JD and coke sessions. Well, it would surprise him if it was anyway. It was probably going to be something boring about ratings or something like that. Or maybe someone was injured and needed to be taken out of a storyline? Without bothering to greet the secretary he pushed Laura's door open and saw not one but three people looking at him as he entered. This was not a business meeting at all. Laura had sent him right up the river, the bitch.

"Meet your son Paul," the bitch smiled. Where did she get off interfering in his life like this? He was about to react angrily but then something made him ask himself why Stephanie was even here? And why was her son here with her? What business did Stephanie and Laura possibly have to discuss? "What are you doing here?" He demanded of Stephanie who sat there in a light grey dress which revealed that she was not in bad shape despite how recently she had given birth. The stupid bitch looked great, there was no doubt about that. There had never been any doubt about that.

"I'm coming back to work soon. I brought Bodhi along to meet his mom's boss and maybe even his dad too, if he can stop being a self obsessed jerk for long enough to take an interest?" Words totally failed Paul as he stood in the doorway and looked at the scene in front of him. There was an empty stroller standing near to where Stephanie sat. It was empty because her son, Bodhi, was in her arms. He knew literally nothing about babies or how to raise one. He did not even know what the stupid little one piece outfit with a cartoon character on it that the baby had on was called. The baby himself seemed to be quite well behaved, he was just lying there in Stephanie's arms randomly waving one of his own arms around and making strange noises. Now what was he supposed to do?

"Come in then," Laura encouraged. As she had studied Paul it had been hard not to chuckle to herself. It might be true that Paul disliked Stephanie but now it was also obvious that there was another reason that he had been so against the idea of having a child with her. He was nervous of Bodhi. The idea of having a child and being responsible for him frightened Paul. Laura never would have believed it but it was so obvious now that she saw it and had been all along in hindsight. Laughing at Paul would only make him get angry and storm off which was the opposite of what she wanted to happen.

As if from nowhere Bodhi started to cry at that moment, a sound that Paul had always hated. It grated on his nerves like nothing else could. Whenever he was in public and heard a baby crying he always found himself fighting the urge to yell at the parents to make the kid be quiet. Stephanie at least was attempting to do just that. As Paul stood watching from just inside the office Stephanie stood and spoke comfortingly to Bodhi. Before he really knew what was happening Stephanie had walked up to him, "Maybe he wants his daddy?" She said gently.

"What?" Paul took a step back in surprise. Stephanie studied this reaction for a moment, now making the same realisation as Laura had moments before. She wanted Bodhi to have his father in his life. There were many women who used the fact that they did not get along with the father of their child as a reason to prevent the father from being involved in the child's life but Stephanie had decided that she was not going to be like that as in the long run it would hurt Bodhi as much, if not more, than it hurt Paul. "Just hold him Paul, look how I'm holding him. Make sure you support his head like this."

With that Stephanie offered the now screaming Bodhi over to Paul, leaving him only two choices; take his son or turn his back and walk away. Something was preventing him from taking the second of those options. Awkwardly he took the tiny child from Stephanie and held him in his arms in the way that he had just been showed. "Hey, uh... little guy," he mumbled, feeling like the most awkward prick in the world.

"Bodhi, that's your daddy, can you can stop crying for daddy?"

Stephanie's use of 'that' voice that everyone used, talking to babies like they were idiots also grated on Paul. "Bodhi, stop crying. Us guys don't cry, okay?" Paul spoke to his son as if they were both adults rather than as he should have done to a baby. Stephanie was about to chastise him for it but to her astonishment Bodhi stopped crying and stared up at that huge man who was now holding him with wide eyes. "There we go," Paul smiled in satisfaction, considering this a victory over Stephanie.

"Oh bless," Stephanie breathed, not disappointed at all about what Paul perceived as her loss of face, much to his own disappointment. "He loves you Paul."

Now totally forgotten about at her desk Laura sipped from her cup of coffee to hide the smile that she could not keep from her face as she watched this first family moment. It was hardly a model example of parenting but for Paul and Stephanie it was at least a start.

END

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><p><em>Author's note (212/16):_

_The sequel to this story is now live and can be found on my profile. It is called Rise._


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